NORTH COUNTY LEVY APPROVED

OAK RIDGE - North Cape County Fire Protection District became the fourth fire district in the county to approve an operating tax levy Tuesday.

By a vote of 152 to 88, voters approved a tax levy that will enable the district to impose a 25-cent levy for at least the first year. The levy could be increased by the fire district up to 30 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The issue received a 63 percent majority.

Richard Baer, a member of the district's board of directors, said he was "tickled to death that it all went so smooth. I think everybody knew how important it was," he said.

Fire district officials had originally considered putting the tax levy before voters last fall. But the idea was dropped after the Missouri auditor's office expressed concern that the levy could violate the state's tax-limitation (Hancock) law.

A 30-cent tax levy was approved by voters in the district in 1977, but the 3-member board of directors never implemented the tax.

The auditor's office said it could not approve the levy without another vote because the tax was not in effect at the time the Hancock Amendment was enacted in 1980.

Baer said approval of the tax levy means the fire district can now operate with a specified budget instead of depending on the $10,000 to $12,000 it received each year in donations. A 30 cent levy would bring in about $30,000 annually, fire district officials said.

The district, which operates two fire stations - the North Station at Friedheim and the South Station at Oak Ridge - serves a large area of rural, northern Cape County.