If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
The Dunklin Fire Protection District (DFPD) is hoping the seventh time is the charm while seeking voter approval on April 7 for a tax increase to boost funding for firefighter pensions.
The ballot measure, called Proposition P, is a tax increase of 5 cents per $100 assessed valuation, and revenue from the proposition would be used to add to the district’s existing pension fund for employees.
If Prop P is passed, DFPD Fire Chief Brad Williams said, the district could offer employees a better pension, which would help the district attract and retain employees.
Williams said a pension for employees was voted in when the fire district was formed in 1974, but no money was approved for it. In 2006, a tax of 5 cents per $100 assessed valuation was approved for the pension program but it has since been rolled back to 4.43 cents.
“We are asking for an additional 5 cents to be placed in the pension fund for the employees. We have asked for this simply to be able to care for a firefighter who makes it to retirement,” Williams said.
The proposition requires a simple majority vote for approval.
The April election will be the seventh consecutive year the fire district has sought voter approval for the tax increase, and it failed each of the six previous years.
Last year, Prop P failed by a margin of 508 yes votes, or 47.61 percent, to 559 no votes, or 52.39 percent.
Prop S going to good use
Despite voting down Prop P in the April 2025 election, voters approved a different proposition that had also been on the ballot for five years straight, Prop S, which increased taxation by 25 cents per $100 assessed valuation. It was approved with 594 yes votes, or 52.33 percent, to 541 no votes, or 47.67 percent. The DFPD said the additional revenue from Prop S would be used to hire more firefighters and to upgrade or replace aging trucks and equipment.
Prior to the passage of Prop S, the district’s tax rate was 66.01 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Prop S will be phased in over three years, with 15 cents added in 2026, and then by another 5 cents in both 2027 and 2028, finally ending about 91 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
If Prop P were to pass, the district’s overall tax rate would increase to around 96 cents per $100 assessed valuation once fully implemented.
Williams said the passage of Proposition S has generated approximately $389,000 in additional revenue since passed. He said the additional revenue has so far been used to purchase eight new helmets and replace four sets of turnout gear, all near their expiration date. He said the Board of Directors has signed a contract to purchase a replacement apparatus, a Pierce 2,000-gallon Kenworth tanker, which is tentatively set to be delivered around the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027. He said the department ordered a side-by-side with a slide-in unit in the bed that will carry 75 gallons of water and booster line to be used on brush fires.
“It will also have an area that we can load a backboard onto to help in removing someone in a remote area and also capabilities to attach a plow to help clear the areas that have a longer driveway if it snows,” Williams said.
Williams said the district has also started working on plans to replace both their aerial apparatus and another rescue pumper truck.
The DFPD covers 22 square miles that include Pevely, Horine, part of Barnhart and Herculaneum, as well as other parts of unincorporated Jefferson County in the Festus area and beyond.
