Quick Read
The fire station in Owatonna, about 70 miles south of the Twin Cities, is 120 years old and in disrepair. The police work out of an old bank building. But on Tuesday, the city’s voters overwhelmingly rejected a $65 million capital bond referendum to replace them with new stations
An overwhelming majority of voters in Owatonna rejected a $65 million capital bond referendum on Tuesday’s ballot that would’ve funded new police and fire stations.
About 77 percent of voters said “no” to the measure to raise their property taxes to pay off bonds that would raise the money needed to replace the city’s aging fire and police stations.
Owatonna’s 120-year-old fire station is out of date and in need of repairs. Local officials want to build a brand new one, but are meeting with resistance from local residents who say the project is too expensive and needs more scrutiny. Owatonna, April 28.
Catharine Richert | MPR News
The fire station is 120 years old, built at a time when horses were still used to pull firefighting apparatus. There have been additions but the building is landlocked and cannot be expanded any more, so some of the firetrucks and other equipment are kept at the Owatonna’s airport. The police station in this growing community of about 30,000 residents is also out of date, housed in a building that used to be a bank and was built in the 1960’s.
But despite the need for new facilities for Owatonna’s first responders, a vocal and well organized group of residents pushed back against the bond referendum. Melissa Zimmerman of Owatonna, who spearheaded the effort to reject the referendum, said the results were exactly “what we anticipated.”
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“We were glad that it was a landslide win for us,” Zimmerman said, “so that way [the] city council was aware that this many people were opposed to the project price, location and [lack of] public input.”
A spot where water seeps into the basement of the 120-year-old Owatonna fire station.
Catharine Richert | MPR News
Zimmerman said her and other residents’ opposition was less about the actual need for new police and fire stations and more to ensure that citizens have a seat at the table where decisions are being made. She said she supports her community’s first responders, but this tax increase proposal was not the most viable solution Owatonna needs.
“The city of Owatonna is very tapped out. We just approved a $124 million school, and we’ve only been paying that back for two to three years, and so the funding just isn’t there right now,” Zimmerman said. “And the economy is not great. So all that strain put together, we just can’t afford more right now, and it has nothing to do with our police and fire. We appreciate those people and we respect them, and we just want to make sure that we can afford this and it’s not going to run Owatonna into the ground.”
City officials had said fixing and repairing the two aging structures wouldn’t be financially feasible, so instead of renovating them, they sought the $65 million capital bond referendum to buy land and build new stations. But many members of the community complained about the lack of input city officials sought from residents about the projects Many cited the cost and location as being the main problems with the new station plans.
If the referendum had passed, taxes on a typical $300,000 home would’ve increased about $420 a year to pay off the $65 million bonds over 20 years.
Fire officials say their current building is too small to house all their vehicles. Some are kept at a nearby airport. In the event of a big fire, Interim Fire Chief Jacob Dashiell said staff must drive out there to get the additional vehicles, delaying their arrival on the scene. Owatonna, April 28.
Catharine Richert | MPR News
Owatonna city officials were not available to comment to MPR News about the referendum’s defeat. Instead, they directed reporters to a statement on the city’s website, which thanked everyone who voted.
“The challenges facing our police and fire stations remain, and responsibility for determining next steps now returns to the City Council,” the statement reads. “We will share updates as those discussions continue.”