The Eureka Fire Protection District will hire more firefighters and the Antonia Fire Protection District may need to eventually lay off staff in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
Eureka Fire asked for an increase of 25-cent tax per $100 assessed valuation, and it passed with 913 votes, or about 57 percent, in favor, and 692 votes, or about 43 percent, against. Although the proposal won in the St. Louis County portion of Eureka, it failed in the Jefferson County portion.
In St. Louis County, the issue got 776 votes, or about 60 percent, in favor, and 511 votes, or about 40 percent, against. In Jefferson County, though, the proposal failed with 137 votes, or 43 percent, in favor, and 181, or about 57 percent, against.
The Antonia Fire Protection District asked for an increase of 50 cents per $100 assessed valuation, and voters rejected it, with 656, or about 44 percent, votes in favor and 833 votes, or about 56 percent, against.
Both issues required a simple majority for passage.
Eureka Fire
Eureka Fire district officials said they asked for the 25-cent tax increase to hire additional firefighters and better meet the demands of an area with rising calls and a growing population.
The tax increase is expected to generate $1 million in extra revenue for the district and raise the tax levy from $1.2108 per $100 assessed valuation to $1.4608 per $100 assessed valuation. In addition, the increase will cost the owner of a home valued at $350,000 an additional $166.25 a year.
Chief Greg Brown said the money will be used to hire up to nine new firefighters/paramedics.
The district currently employs 21 full-time firefighters/paramedics.
Brown said the district could soon be serving an extra 1,200 to 1,300 homes. Two major subdivisions have been approved – the Arbors of Rockwood (526 homes) near Six Flags and Windswept Farms (549 homes) in Jefferson County. Several smaller developments are in the works, too.
The district expects to get 2,500 calls in 2017, an 18 percent increase over the last four years, Brown said.
In the past 20 years, call volume has increased by more than 27 percent, he said.
The district serves residents in an 82-square-mile area that takes in Eureka and Hoene Springs in north Jefferson County and Eureka and Wildwood in southwest St. Louis County.
Antonia Fire
If Antonia Fire district voters had approved the proposed 50-cent tax increase on Tuesday, it would have provided another $900,000 in revenue for the district, and those funds would have been used to staff all three of its firehouses 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Fire Chief Mike Arnhart said.
Antonia Fire received a $1.6 million grant earlier this year to hire 14 firefighters and meet the minimum staffing standards set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). That money will run out in March of 2019 and without the tax increase, the district will not be able to keep those employees, Arnhart said.
“That’s the harshest reality – the manpower reduction,” he said before the election.
The Antonia Fire Protection District currently has 34 full-time employees, including administrators, firefighters and an administrative assistant. The district also has 15 volunteer firefighters, he said.
The increase, if passed, would have cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 by the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office an extra $95 a year. The current tax levy is $1.0027 per $100 assessed valuation.
The Antonia Fire Protection District covers 36 square miles and encompasses a portion of Barnhart, Imperial, House Springs and Hillsboro.