Big River Ambulance
Proposition Safety
What it is: A $17 million bond issue.
Vote needed to pass: Four-sevenths majority.
What it will cost: Chief Scott Fisher said an initial sale of $5 million to $6 million in bonds likely would raise the district’s current tax rate of 27.21 cents per $100 of assessed valuation by 6 cents. The owner of a house valued at $150,000 by the county Assessor’s Office would pay $17.10 more per year in property taxes.
The sale of additional bonds in five years would add a similar amount in taxes.
The remainder of the bond issue, if needed, would be sold in about 10 years, he said, and at current rates would add a total of 18 cents to the district’s tax levy, or $51.30 more per year in property taxes until the first set of bonds are retired.
Phasing in the sale of bonds also would phase in the tax increases necessary to pay them off, he said.
What it’s about: Fisher said if the proposition passes, the district will immediately sell $5 million to $6 million in bonds to allow it to replace the aging House No. 1, 6321 Lorens Lane, in Cedar Hill, and replace some equipment.
Fisher said the money it takes to maintain House No. 1, which the district took ownership of in 1975, could better be used for other day-to-day uses.
Equipment that the district proposes to buy with the proceeds from the bond issue include
EKG monitors and power lifts.
“We’re the only district in the county that doesn’t have them,” Fisher said. “They lift patients from a stretcher into an ambulance. Due to the growing obesity problem in our country, they’re a necessity. Having them will reduce our workers’ compensation claims. They cost $40,000 each.”
He said the district likely sell another $5 million to $6 million in bonds in five years, in part to renovate the other two houses at 4795 Tishomingo Road in Hillsboro and 6969 Wild Cherry Drive in House Springs.
The district covers about 125 square miles that include House Springs, Cedar Hill, Morse Mill, Dittmer, Ware, Grubville and Byrnes Mill.