NBC FIRE DISTRICT SEEKS TO BUILD NEW STATION; KELSO REQUESTS E-911 SERVICE

BENTON -- Voters in the New Hamburg, Benton and Commerce Fire Protection District will vote Tuesday on whether to allow the district to borrow money to build a new fire station.

And in Kelso, voters will decide whether the Scott County town will join neighboring Scott City and Commerce in an Enhanced 911 system. Voters in Scott City and Commerce approved the issue in November.

The three communities share a 264 telephone exchange.

Voters are being asked to approve establishment of an Enhanced 911 system, which would be paid for through a 15 percent surcharge on customers' basic monthly bills.

The fire district election involves a plan to build a two-bay fire station on a two-acre site near the Highway 77 and Interstate 55 interchange at Benton.

David Dirnberger, fire district president, said the new station would cost an estimated $50,000 and raise the district's total indebtedness to about $100,000. That would be more than the district's annual revenue of $60,000, generated from a 30-cent levy.

Because the indebtedness would exceed one year's annual revenue, the district must ask voters to approve the plan, explained Dirnberger.

No tax increase is involved, he emphasized. The district plans to retire the debt with revenue from its existing tax levy.

The district has 22 volunteer firefighters and three fire trucks, one each in Benton, Commerce and New Hamburg.

The one in Benton is currently housed in a city owned warehouse, Dirnberger said. Plans call for moving that fire truck to the new station. The other bay of the new station would allow for future expansion.

Dirnberger said that having a new fire station near I-55 will improve fire protection for the area. "We are fire and rescue. We have a lot of calls there on the interstate," he said.