Fire district seeks 10-cent levy hike

WHITEWATER, Mo. -- The Whitewater Fire Protection District wants to pump up its funding with a 10-cent levy hike.

The added money would help fund operations of the rural fire department, including installing hydrants to more easily pump water from farm ponds and lakes. That would lower insurance costs for the district's residents, more than offsetting the higher taxes, fire officials say.

The measure, which requires a simply majority for passage, is one of two tax issues on the April 2 ballot. The other is a sewer bond issue in Oak Ridge, Mo.

A 10-cent hike would put the levy at 38.71 cents per $100 assessed valuation and provide the rural fire department with about $8,700 in added annual revenue.

The volunteer fire department currently relies on old pumpers and a few tax dollars to stay afloat.

"We are sitting here just barely getting by," said Dave Blumenberg, who heads the fire district board and operates a small grocery store in Whitewater.

The fire district has 17 volunteer firefighters, two aging pumper trucks, two water tanks and a handful of other used vehicles. The district has two no-frills fire stations, one on the outskirts of Whitewater and the other on County Road 380 near Lake Girardeau.

Firefighters fought only 24 fires last year. But maintaining and equipping a volunteer fire department is costly even when there are few fires, officials say.

The department's $30,000-a-year budget comes from personal property and real estate taxes. The tax money barely covers all the expenses -- over $28,000 last year for everything from gear and training for the firemen to fuel and insurance.

Kinder Morgan money

Garry Moore, the district's fire chief, said his department is the least funded of Cape Girardeau County's seven rural fire departments.

That could change if Kinder Morgan Power Co. builds a power plant along Route U south of Crump, Mo. The company has promised to pay $780,000 to the fire district over 15 years. The figure includes the donation of fire trucks.

At the end of that time, the plant would be added to the tax rolls. The fire district could see its tax revenue more than double to $80,000 or more a year, county officials have estimated.

But Moore and Blumenberg said there's no assurance the state will grant a permit to Kinder Morgan to build the plant. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources so far has refused to grant a permit, citing concerns about possible air pollution.

"I have nothing in my hand from Kinder Morgan," Moore said.

Blumenberg said fire officials didn't learn of possible funding from Kinder Morgan until after they had placed the tax measure on the ballot.

Whitewater resident Melvin Pope said he'll vote for the tax hike. Pope, who has lived in Whitewater for 25 years, said the fire department has done a good job.

Pope puts little stock in the Kinder Morgan funding scenario. "That's pie in the sky," he said.

$7 versus $50

Pope said the tax hike would be worth it to residents who would see their fire insurance ratings lowered as a result of operating improvements for the fire district.

Moore estimated the levy hike would increase his annual property taxes by $7. But upgrading the fire department would lower the cost of his homeowner's insurance by $50 a year, he said.

Moore said the district has perhaps 2,500 residents scattered over a farm-filled area that has few businesses and only a handful of small towns. Whitewater is the largest town in the district with a population of 113.

"We don't even have a gas station in our district," he said.

Moore said the district's tax base is hampered by a lack of industry and Missouri's Hancock Amendment tax rollback law that lowers the levy when the assessed valuation rises from reassessment.

Voters approved a 30-cent levy for the district in 1994. But rollbacks since then have lowered it to its current level.

Besides installing more hydrants in ponds and lakes, the added funding would allow the fire district to start replacing aging air packs and other equipment. The department's main pumper is 37 years old. The other is 48 years old.

Moore said the district eventually will have to replace those trucks. "They take a lot of abuse," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123