By Tim Rowden
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Tax hike also would pay for new pumper truck.
The Antonia Fire Protection District is asking voters to approve a tax increase to hire three more paid firefighters and buy a new pumper truck.
The proposal to increase the tax rate 25 cents for each $100 of assessed value would be phased in over three years with an increase of 15 cents next year and 5 cents each in 2008 and 2009. The increase would raise roughly $225,000 in the first year and $75,000 a year in the second and third years.
The district also is seeking a 5-cent increase to bolster its pension program.
The Antonia fire district has 15 paid firefighters and 16 volunteers. The district, in fast growing north-central Jefferson County, covers an area of 36 square miles including Antonia, Barnhart and parts of House Springs, Imperial, Otto and the Seckman Valley.
Fire Chief John Newsome says firefighters responded to 965 calls for service last year and are on a pace to exceed that number this year. Newsome said the district already had exceeded 800 calls this year and probably would top 1,000 calls by the end of the year.
Newsome says the additional firefighters and equipment are needed to improve safety and shorten response times. He says the additional firefighters would allow the district to have three paid firefighters on duty full time to staff the pumpers at House 1 at Highway M and Old Lemay Ferry Road and House 2 off new Highway M at Moss Hollow Road 24.
Newsome says the added crew strength would allow firefighters to begin rescue operations as soon as they arrive on the scene, rather than having to wait for the crew from the second pumper to arrive.
“It’s important to have adequate staffing so you can shorten our response times and get to the people that have a need as soon as possible,” Newsome said.
The new firefighters would be hired shortly after passage of the tax increase, Newsome said. The new pumper truck, which would replace a 1990 model, would be purchased after the tax increase would be fully implemented.
If the proposal is approved, the owner of a house worth $100,000 would pay an additional $28.50 next year and an additional $9.50 a year in 2008 and 2009.
The 5-cent increase for pensions would add another $9.50 to that amount.
Newsome says voters will need to approve both measures for the new firefighters to be hired because the district’s pension plan is underfunded.