The Rock Community Fire Protection District is seeking a property tax increase of up to 15 cents per $100 assessed valuation to fund its pension plan.
The measure, called Proposition R, requires a simple majority vote to pass.
Rock Fire’s current tax levy is $1.1796 per $100 assessed valuation. If voters approve the tax increase and the district raises the tax levy by the full 15 cents, the tax levy would increase to $1.3296 per 100 assessed valuation.
The 15-cent tax increase would cost Rock Fire residents with a home valued at $200,000 by the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office another $57 a year, for a total of $505.25 per year in property taxes to the district.
Chief Kevin Wingbermuehle said Rock Fire’s current tax levy is divided into four funds. Of the $1.1796 per $100 assessed valuation, 98.05 cents goes into the district’s general revenue fund, 8.64 cents goes into the pension fund, 7 cents goes into the debt service fund and 4.27 cents goes into the communications fund.
Rock Fire also collects a 1/2-cent sales tax.
Wingbermuehle said if the tax increase is approved on April 2, it would generate about $1.5 million per year for the pension fund.
Rock Fire’s pension plan was created in 1977 when the district had eight employees and two firehouses. In 2002, voters approved raising the tax levy to increase funding for the pension plan after the district had added more than 40 employees and opened two more houses.
Rock Fire now has 83 employees, which includes 68 firefighters, five chief officers and 10 staff members, and five houses. The district covers Arnold, Kimmswick and parts of Imperial and Barnhart and two houses in Arnold, two in the Arnold area and one in Imperial.
“Since the program’s inception, our workforce has grown by 75 employees,” Wingbermuehle said. “The past three years account for 19 of those positions. With each additional employee and due to the recent unexpected deaths of three of our active-duty firefighters, there is a significant negative impact on the plan’s funding. Although the community has grown, the amount of growth does not offset this impact and leaves current funding inadequate to the future of the plan. The success of Prop R will adequately fund the program to ensure its long-term viability.”
Wingbermuehle said passage of the tax increase would allow Rock Fire to better recruit and retain well-trained, experienced firefighters.
“Our community is an extension of our family, and they deserve the absolute best service the fire district can provide,” he said. “We take a lot of pride in making that happen with the advanced equipment carried on our trucks, and from a personnel standpoint, we put a tremendous amount of effort into recruiting and retaining exceptional firefighters and staff. We have been successful, but it’s a competitive business.”
Rock Fire last asked for a tax increase in April 2017, when voters approved raising the district’s tax levy by 50 cents.