Proposition Fire and Life Safety to be on Cape County’s April ballot
GORDONVILLE, Mo. (KBSI) – The local election is just a week away for Cape County residents and the Gordonville Fire Protection District will be on this year’s ballot for the first time.
Michael Gentry is the Chief of the Gordonville Fire Protection District. He says their department is asking for a tax increase.
“The cost of trucks are rising, the cost of PPE is rising, we need some facility updates. All that is kind of why we are going to the voters to ask for this” says Gentry.
According to Gentry this is the first tax increase the district has asked for since 1993, he explains how much of a tax increase taxpayers can expect to see if the proposition were passed.
“A 25-cent tax increase on the assessed evaluation on every hundred dollars. The county assessor assesses an evaluation of your property or business and then we get taxes off of that and we are a volunteer department, so we are 100% funded through those taxes.”
Gentry says if Proposition Fire and Life Safety doesn’t pass, their department will still continue to serve the community, but faulty equipment or lack of working vehicles could cause safety issues or hold up response times.
“So, we have two trucks right now that are fitted with ALS(Advanced Life Support) equipment, and I’d like to stock another third truck with those. If this proposition doesn’t pass, I won’t be able to do that and then purchase some new fire equipment too. Even your basic stuff like your hose and nozzles are expensive. A nozzle for a fire hose can go for about 2000 dollars” says Gentry.
Gentry saying the Gordonville Fire Protection District strives to serve and assists its community.
“We are a volunteer department so our members do get some cost affective incentive for calls and trainings but that is not a paycheck for them,” says Gentry. “We have families, we have other jobs so having that funding to keep this organization running, keeping it up to par, keep it a top-notch department that I strive to set for my members and the community is very important to us.”
