Higher rural fire tax needed

The residents of the Sterling Rural Fire District have two options to be heard: the truth-in-taxation meeting and submitting petitions to have it on the ballot.

It is quite apparent the multimillion-dollar business (fire protection) is grossly underfunded by the rural district. The tax rate is at only 0.1237 per $100 equalized assessed valuation, and I have to believe this is as high of a rate as there has ever been. 

This means that the city of Sterling has been subsidizing the rural fire district. What happens if the rural fire district does not do its part with the necessary revenue?

After the contract ends that rural has with the city, then there will be two separate fire entities like Dixon has: city fire and rural fire, each with its own station, manpower and equipment. To get the rural jump-started, a quick source of revenue would have to be found to fund a building, equipment (at 0.1237 cents; I’m not sure whether the rural district owns anything), and also decide on a full-time or volunteer firefighting force.

The trustees of the rural fire district have been chosen to provide adequate fire protection. They will do this by increasing the tax rate per $100 of EAV, which will increase your taxes.

If the taxes are not increased, your level of fire protection will suffer, and the Insurance Services Organization rating for the rural area may change.

As it changes, home-owners’ insurance will change.

So, I urge everyone to support this tax adjustment up to where it should have been so you can receive the fire protection you deserve. As I urge you to pay more taxes in this difficult time, your first question would be, “How much does he pay?” So I will tell you.

We have a full-time fire chief, full-time 24-hour paramedic service, and 20-plus paid-on-call (volunteer) firefighters. Our ISO rating is 4 in the village of Mount Morris, and 7 in the rural area. Our tax rate is around 0.75 cents per $100 EAV; it includes fire, ambulance, rescue and insurance.

We just had a truth-in-taxation meeting to raise the taxes a little more than 8 percent in the insurance fund – the public did not attend this meeting to voice an opinion. You are welcomed to visit www.mountmorrisfire.com on the Web to learn more about my fire department.