Van Buren Progressing on Tax Funded Improvements

The Van Buren City Council has selected Crawford Construction as the construction manager on the new police and fire stations as well as the new senior center, said Mayor Bob Freeman in a recent email to The City Wire.

The projects were made possible by the support of Van Buren voters, who approved the 1% increase in the city’s Sales and Use Tax in July by a margin of 70% to 30%. Of the $11.7 million in capital improvement projects that the tax increase will fund, the three projects managed by Crawford Construction will account for approximately $9.95 million.

The remainder ($1.75 million) will go toward park improvements.

The new police facility will cost the most at $4.4 million, according to city ordinance 15-2012, with the new fire department running $2.9 million and the senior center, safe shelter and associated demolition needed to move that project forward totaling $2.65 million.

In August, Freeman said that the “first thing we’ll probably end up doing is buying land for the police station.” Freeman updated on Tuesday (Oct. 30) that the purchase is “still in progress.”

 ”We had to identify (land options) and have appraisals completed,” Freeman added. Click here to read the full story from our partners at TheCityWire.com.