Cedar Hill Fire Protection District voters will be asked April 8 to approve an $11.6 million bond issue to provide funding to hire more firefighters, upgrade facilities and equipment, and offer more training opportunities.
The bond issue, called Proposition Fire, requires a four-sevenths majority (57.14 percent) vote for passage. If the bond issue passes, it would result in a tax increase of 29 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
Right now the district’s tax levy is $1.2261 per $100 assessed valuation, and if the measure is approved, the levy would increase to $1.5161 per $100 assessed valuation.
The increase would cost the owner of a house valued at $150,000 by the county Assessor’s Office an extra $82.65 per year.
Cedar Hill Fire Chief Mick Fischer said the district does not intend to sell all the bonds at once but instead would sell them in phases as the district builds additions to the existing stations or buys new equipment.
If Prop Fire passes, Cedar Hill Fire would sell approximately $5 million in bonds immediately and then would begin building improvements, Fischer said. “We’ve been trying to allocate money out of our general fund to do that, but we can’t keep up with the costs of what needs to be done.”
Fischer said revenue from the bond issue would be used to add an administrative office to Station 1 at 6766 Cedar Hill Road in Cedar Hill, which would allow the district to use the current office space as a training area for on-duty firefighters. The existing living quarters and training area on the second-floor space would be remodeled and used exclusively for living quarters, which were last updated in the 1980s.
He said the district has three firefighters on duty 24 hours a day, and the current living quarters are cramped.
Fischer said the district also wants to add a pole barn for storage and maintenance at Station 1. Altogether, the addition, renovations and pole barn would cost an estimated $2 million.
Plans also call for updates to be made to the bunk rooms at Station 2, 8800 Hwy. 30, in Dittmer and Station 3, 8790 Byrnesville Road, in Cedar Hill, which Fischer said also are insufficient for today’s needs.
After all those improvements are included, the fire district would use bond issue funds to build a training facility at Station 1 similar to the one the De Soto Rural and Hillsboro fire protection districts share. That 3,000-square-foot facility cost $600,000 and was made of shipping containers stacked three stories high.
Fischer said having a training facility would better prepare Cedar Hill firefighters for emergencies and could improve the district’s Insurance Services Office rating, possibly leading to lower insurance premiums for residents.
Fischer said Prop F revenue also would be used to replace district firetrucks that are at least 20 years old and older equipment, like breathing apparatuses. The district also would like to consider replacing its 3-inch supply hoses with 4-inch ones, which would provide more water and make it easier to fight large fires.
By using Prop F funds to replace outdated equipment, more of the district’s operating funds would be available to hire additional firefighters, he said, adding that with a shrinking supply of volunteer firefighters, more firefighters are needed.
The district has 24 full-time staff members, 10 part-time firefighters and about 15 volunteers.
Fischer said the community and call volumes continue to grow, which means more firefighters and revenue are needed to keep up with the demand.
The district had two previous bond issues – one in 1980 and another in 1994, and both were paid off early, Fischer said.
