93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Voters in the Columbia-based Boone County Fire Protection District will cast ballots in April on an $8-million no tax increase bond issue.
Boone County Fire assistant chief Gale Blomenkamp says passage requires a four-sevenths majority, which is 57 percent.
“In 2014, our voters approved a 25-cent bond levy in which we were able to do a lot of work with. It was $14-million worth. And so what we’re asking the public to do now is allow us to extend and continue that same 25-cent bond levy,” Blomenkamp says.
The Boone County Fire Protection District covers 492 square miles, making it Missouri’s third-largest fire department. It includes the area from around Deer Park all the way north to the Boone/Randolph County line and east to west from the Boone/Callaway County line to the Boone/Cooper county line, excluding the city of Columbia.
One of the main components in April’s proposed bond issue is the replacement of the fire station that’s on South Route K. It was built in 1982. Assistant chief Blomenkamp tells 939 the Eagle that volunteer firefighters can live at the station. A number of them are college students and the district wants them to be able to study at the station, rather than the library.
“You put eight people in a building that’s built for two or three, it can be very crowded and troublesome at times. And so, we want to give them the space that they need and the space that they deserve because the more time that they spend there, the more time our trucks are covered,” says Blomenkamp.
The bond issue includes $5-million to build a new fire station next door to the old station. It also includes $1-million for firefighting equipment. The money would allow the district to purchase new thermal imaging cameras for every fire engine, fire tanker and rescue squad.
The Boone County Fire Protection District will purchase one new fire engine and two new 1,500 gallon fire tanker trucks, if voters approve the bond issue. Blomenkamp tells 939 the Eagle that the district is currently using some apparatus that was built in 2000.
“And so those things are now, we’re looking at 23 years old. They’re going to be 24, 25 years old if this bond passes by the time we get the new apparatus. It takes about two years to build them,” Blomenkamp says.
He notes the price of fire apparatus has increased dramatically in the past 15 years, due to technology advancements, national standards and regulations. A fire engine that cost $178,000 in 1999 now costs $754,000, according to Mr. Blomenkamp.
There is no organized opposition to the April 4 ballot measure.
