Antonia Fire Protection District voters will be asked on Nov. 5 to approve an $11 million bond issue to fund capital improvement projects.
If passed, the bond issue would raise the district’s tax rate by 19.8 cents per $100 assessed valuation, increasing the rate from 90.33 cents per $100 assessed valuation to $1.1013 per $100 assessed valuation.
The fire district would have 20 years to pay off the bond debt.
The ballot measure requires a four-sevenths (57.14 percent) majority vote for approval.
If approved, the tax increase would cost a district resident with a home valued at $200,000 by the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office an additional $75.24 per year, for a total of $418.49 per year.
Deputy Chief Bobby Chrisco said the bond issue is needed to cover the cost of building a new firehouse, renovating House 2 at 6633 Moss Hollow Road in Barnhart and purchasing up to two firetrucks over the next 20 years.
“There are a lot of upgrades that need to be done at (House 2), which is 20 years old,” Chief Matt Krutzsch said. “We have an aging fleet of firetrucks. Most firetrucks on average have a lifespan of five to seven years for a first-line truck. The reserve truck should be seven to 10 years old, and you need to keep rotating them out. With the budget we have, we have never been able to keep that (firetruck replacement schedule). We usually keep trucks for about 20 years. Right now, our frontline trucks are five to seven years old. We got them in 2017.”
Chrisco said the bond issue is needed because Antonia Fire can’t cover the capital improvement costs with its approximately $3 million operating budget, adding that about half of the operating budget funds are used to pay salaries for district employees.
“The bond would offset capital improvement costs, so we can keep good, well-trained firefighters at halfway decent pay and still have safe and efficient structures,” he said.
Chrisco said Antonia Fire anticipates spending approximately $2 million to build a new House 1.
In June 2023, the district paid $33,572 to purchase about 2 acres of land from the Missouri Department of Transportation near the intersection of Old Hwy. 21 and Hwy. M in the Otto area for the new house. It paid for the property with proceeds from its sale of House 1 at 3538 Old Hwy. M for $225,000 in February 2023.
“We are trying to be as responsible as we can,” Chrisco said of building the new House 1. “We established a building commission to look at the replacement of House 1. We are looking at 4,000 square feet of living space, nothing crazy or over the top, and two full-depth bays.”
Chrisco said some of the renovations needed at House 2 include replacing concrete, garage doors and openers, which would cost approximately $850,000.
“All of the items are original to the building,” he said. “The original concrete that was poured is starting to get breaks from firetrucks coming in and out all of the time.”
Chrisco said the first new firetruck Antonia Fire hopes to order would cost approximately $1.1 million, and the district likely would not receive the truck for two years after ordering it.
He also said the district received a $100,000 Diesel Emission Reduction Act grant through Volkswagen to help cover the cost of the new truck.
Chrisco said the last firetruck Antonia Fire purchased, in 2017, cost approximately $550,000 and was delivered within a year of ordering it.
When Antonia Fire receives a new truck, it would get rid of a 2003 American LeFrance firetruck, he said.
Chrisco said the older truck is used in reserve, and parts are no longer manufactured for it.
He said one of the district’s current frontline trucks would become the new reserve firetruck, adding that Antonia Fire likely would purchase a second firetruck using bond money near the end of the 20-year debt cycle.
“The older your firetrucks get the more the maintenance budget has to go up,” he said. “ It is just like a standard vehicle. We don’t need a firetruck every five years, but we should be ordering a new firetruck every seven to 10 years.”
After the new House 1 is constructed, Chrisco said Antonia Fire will no longer staff House 3 at 7138 Old Hwy. 21 in Otto and will either sell it or use it for storage.
“House 3’s future depend on market value,” he said.
Chrisco also said Antonia Fire would like to build a third house in the northern part of the district’s 36-mile coverage area, which covers Barnhart, Otto and portions of Imperial and House Springs.
“The bond issue will not set us up for a third station, but it will offset the general budget to where the natural growth in the community would allow us to pay for staffing to get a third station,” he said.
Before the Nov. 5 election, Antonia Fire plans to establish a citizens committee to discuss the district’s future and needs,” Chrisco said.
“We want them to engage with us and help in our mission of fire emergency protection,” he said. “We want to listen to what they have to say. We are pretty open-minded about a lot of things, and sometimes, we know too much. We know what we want to accomplish, and we can focus so hard on that, that we forget to think from a layman’s perspective. We want residents to say, ‘Have you thought about this or that?’”