Explainer: Proposition Safety in Scott County

SCOTT COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI) – It could save your life and may even save you money. That’s what firefighters in Scott County say about Proposition Safety.

The proposal failed in April but it is back on the ballot Tuesday, August 6.

Proposition Safety is a Scott County bond issue that firefighters saw would provide funding to build a new fire station, improve existing facilities, reduce response times, lower insurance rates and more.

“Anytime I see the word tax, I usually vote no,” said Scott County resident Wade Amelung.

The proposition failed in April. Amelung was among those who voted against the no tax rate increase general obligation bond issue.

“Biggest reason why…I didn’t know exactly what it was,” said Amelung.

Chief Jeremy Perrien says it is a question of safety.

“I don’t know that anything could be more critical,” said Perrien talking about safety and support for the firefighters working to keep you safe.

“When it comes to fire safety, we have no idea what we’re going to be paged out to,” said Perrien. “We’re going to be paged out. We don’t know how many people we’re going have available we don’t know how many agencies we’re going to have to call”

Perrien says he knows people may have their backs but are generally against the word ‘tax’ or anything that looks like one. He explains he knows the language on the ballot is confusing.

“On the ballot the legal language we’re required to have ‘tax would remain unchanged is at the very bottom,’” he said.

A vote ‘yes’ would not change the tax rate. He says instead it would approve a plan to better use tax payer dollars through a bond versus traditional financing.

“Yes, we could go build a new fire station with traditional lending without the citizens, but when I know that if we do a bond we get cheaper interest rates, we can have the money to equip the new fire stations.”

The bond would total $1.65 million. One thing the money would provide is new equipment.

“This fire truck looks very nice but it’s also a 1999,” said Perrien. “It’s 25 years old, but no one looks at that they just look at appearances. One breathing apparatus today is $8,200. When I started, it was $4,000.”

Perrien says citizens would see no monetary increase and approval could even lower your homeowner’s insurance. That’s because it would also put a station in the southern end of the district, putting more homeowners closer to life saving and property saving help.

“Having an additional fire station down here is going to encompass about 90 percent of our district,” said Perrien. “Having fire coverage within a five-mile radius which is going to lower insurance rates for everyone in this pink area.”

Other firefighters like Lt. Austin Novak say they are working to educate the public on what it means that a ‘yes’ vote truly goes to benefit the community.

“It’s important that everybody realizes this isn’t just about the red trucks that go down the road,” said Lt. Novak. “There’s a lot of training. There’s a lot of dedication that goes into this.”

As for Amelung, he says this time around he will like vote ‘yes.’

“I think I’m going to vote ‘yes’ on it. Still going to do a little more research,” he said.

He says learning more about the issue made all the difference. He says he sees the life-saving value of supporting the volunteer fire departments.

“If we didn’t have these we’d have to rely on bigger cities and the bigger cities are overwhelmed as they are,” said Amelung. “They protect our houses, our property, our medical. Without them we’d be in trouble.”

Still have questions? There is a meeting Friday, August 2 at the Scott County Rural Fire Department in Morley from 6:30-8 p.m.