Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
By SUSAN WEICH
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Two volunteer fire agencies in St. Charles County could merge as early as August, and two other districts with paid firefighters have begun talks to consolidate, according to a group of area fire officials.
Under one tentative agreement, residents in Portage des Sioux would join with West Alton’s Fire Protection District. Meanwhile, Lake Saint Louis and Wentzville fire officials also have had preliminary talks about merging.
O’Fallon Fire Chief Mike Ballmann and Central County Fire & Rescue Chief Russ Mason discussed the plans with members of the St. Charles County Council last week. After a county panel studying consolidation decided in November to drop plans for one countywide fire and emergency service, chiefs from 11 fire agencies and the ambulance district agreed to pursue the issue.
Eighteen volunteers provide Portage des Sioux with fire protection on an annual budget of $18,000. Residents aren’t taxed for the service; they buy fire tags that cost $25 a year. Farms and businesses pay $75.
In recent years, the district has had trouble raising money, said Fire Chief Kurt Machens.
“We’re surviving, but every year our expenses — insurance, fuel, everything — keeps increasing, and it’s becoming very difficult to operate on that amount of money,” he said. “It’s inevitable that we’re going to have to do something.”
He and West Alton Fire Chief Rick Pender said they had been working closely together for about five years and have been sharing manpower and other resources. They said merging seemed like the next logical step.
West Alton has 27 volunteers and levies a tax of 20 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation.
Officials say that under the merger, the average Portage des Sioux homeowner would pay less than $50 annually. If enough residents of Portage sign a petition, the issue would be put on the August ballot. Officials hope to have a public hearing on the issue later this month.
In another part of the county, voters in Lake Saint Louis and Wentzville have rejected tax increases or bond issues in recent years that would have been used to increase manpower to handle surging populations and a dwindling volunteer base.
Lake Saint Louis has paid firefighters from 6 a.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Friday and uses volunteers at other times. Wentzville has full-time paid firefighters at two of its four stations, and volunteers staff the others.
Lake Saint Louis’ tax rate is about 42 cents; Wentzville’s is about 46 cents.
Jeff Smith, chief of the Lake Saint Louis Fire Protection District, said it was too early to disclose any details about the talks with Wentzville, but he expects the discussion to continue. Wentzville Chief Randy Bornhop could not be reached for comment.
Ballmann and Mason also told the County Council about other progress toward consolidation of fire and emergency medical service, including: Applying for a federal grant that would allow the purchase of video equipment to link the county’s fire stations. Firefighters across the county could get classroom instruction without leaving their stations. Adopting a countywide bidding and purchasing policy, which will allow agencies to purchase items together. They also are banding together as a group to seek bids on some items all the agencies need, like fuel and maintenance work on fire trucks, to try to get a lower price. Crafting a master plan for future locations of fire houses in the county. Doing a feasibility study of what one merged fire and EMS district would cost and require in terms of manpower and other resources.
The report earned praise from County Councilman Dan Foust, who has pushed for consolidation.
“I was encouraged by some of the things they said,” Foust said. “It appears that they wanted to be in control of their own destiny. But I think we pushed them toward realizing that if they don’t clean up their own house and get things in order, then the issue may go on the ballot.”