April 08, 2008 10:18 pm
—
By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
SENECA, Mo. — Despite the lower turnout of an April election, residents in the Seneca Area Fire Protection District have not grown any fonder of a tax hike for fire coverage.
Residents of the district were asked Tuesday to approve a $1.7 million bond issue that would have financed construction of two new stations north and south of Seneca, and the acquisition of three new pumper tanks and three brush trucks.
Approval by a four-sevenths majority, or 57.1 percent, was needed for passage. Voters shot down the ballot measure by a vote of 212 against to 138 in favor, which translates to just 39.4 percent approval.
It was a wider margin of loss than the district experienced with a similar proposal in 2007. Last year, voters in the district shot down a $1.128 million bond measure with 366 votes in favor to 410 against.
Officials with the fire district billed this year’s proposal as necessary to provide better fire protection throughout the district and to replace aging vehicles.
J.R. Wren and his wife, Roxanne Wren, said they voted in favor of the proposal.
“I think we need a little more fire protection, and I think the boys need a way to (increase) it,” J.R. Wren said.
Roxanne Wren said the district needs new equipment, with one existing vehicle now 40 years old. She said the district’s firefighting capabilities need to keep pace with the population growth in the area.
“We are getting bigger, so they need to get bigger,” she said.
The plan called for a 40-cent increase in the district’s levy, which currently stands at just over 28.14 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. There would have been a 20-year debt service on the bonds, with levy increase remaining in effect over that period.
The district receives about $75,000 to $85,000 in annual revenues from its levy. About half of the funds go toward payments on a lease-purchase agreement for one of the district’s fire engines, and a loan that was taken out to buy a building and a firetruck.
Tax impact
The additional 40 cents would have raised annual property taxes on a $100,000 house by $76.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.