Mapaville Fire Protection District officials hope to pick up a few more votes on Aug. 6 and see a 25-cent property tax increase pass, which would provide the funds needed to raise firefighter pay to just above the Missouri minimum wage.
In April, a similar tax measure failed by two votes.
Proposition Minimum Wage, which appears on the August ballot, requires a simple majority to pass and would increase the district’s tax rate from 97.36 cents per $100 assessed valuation to $1.2236 per $100 assessed valuation.
Mapaville Fire Chief Dave Brown said he hopes the district was successful in educating voters about the need for the additional revenue the tax increase would provide – mainly to increase firefighter salaries.
It would allow the district to increase Mapaville firefighter minimum pay to $13 an hour, lifting it above Missouri’s minimum wage of $12.30 an hour. The district’s average pay right now is $12.24 an hour, and its lowest pay rate is $11.61per hour, he said.
Governmental entities, including tax-funded fire districts, are not required to pay minimum wage.
Brown said offering competitive salaries is important to maintain and attract staffing. The district has four full-time firefighters, including Brown, and about 25 part-time paid firefighters. The part-time firefighters also would receive pay increases if the proposition passes.
Some of the revenue from the tax increase, if approved, also would go toward the district’s general funds and help pay for equipment upgrades and general operating costs that have increased, he said.
“Budgets are really tight for everybody, including us,” he said.
If Proposition Minimum Wage is approved, Brown said, it would generate about $185,000 per year to add to Mapaville Fire’s budget, which was about $683,000 last year.
The 25-cent increase would cost the owner of a $150,000 house an additional $71.25 per year.
Brown said he is not aware of any organized opposition to the proposal.
In April Proposition Public Safety, which would have increased Mapaville’s tax rate by 25 cents, failed by a vote of 237 no to 235 yes. During the same election, district voters approved Proposition Firefighter Pension, a 5-cent increase so the district could start a pension fund for its employees.
Before Proposition Firefighter Pension was approved in April, the district had not received a tax increase in eight years.
“In April 2016, a 50-cent tax passed,” Brown said. “That allowed us to hire our first paid firefighters.”
The district covers about 14.2 square miles, including parts of the Pevely, Hillsboro and Festus areas.