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Costa Rica town determined to resolve itinerant police station issue

Officials from the northwestern Costa Rican Santa Cruz Municipality have been meeting with leaders here to find a permanent home for the police following years of uncertainty.

The Santa Cruz Municipality, which controls local tax money spent here, has refused to finance this town’s police station, leaving it to local residents and businesses to provide the funds necessary to keep the cops in town.

Developers and residents here are hoping to build a new station near Pasa Tiempo hotel, on the future Los Jobos road.

On Saturday, municipality officials discussed the possibility with locals but haven’t announced whether they will help fund the new station. Community leaders here are optimistic.

“I think we have a good chance,” said Federico Amador, president of the Tamarindo Pro Improvements Association, a local community organization. “The Santa Cruz government is finally realizing the importance of Tamarindo.”

If the municipality agrees to help finance the new station, the money will be allotted in the 2010 budget.

Amador said the association will work with the municipality over the course of the next two weeks until an agreement is reached on funding for the project.

The station would be built on a 1,800 square meter plot a local developer donated to the community.

The police station is currently located at the entrance to the town in the privately owned Cabinas Maleko hotel.

The station does not receive tax money for its operation and must rely on private donations. A drop in donations and a failure to pay the $1,500 per month rent owed for February and March has caused concern over eviction and future location.