Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District asking voters to approve tax levy increase

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. (KY3) - The August primary is just 28 days away. Voters in the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District in Greene, Christian, and Webster Counties could decide to raise their property taxes.

Proposition 1 is, in short, a tax increase. If it passes, it is slated to create a 25-cent property tax increase. All the collected taxes will go toward the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District. According to the fire district, the tax increase would allow employees to be paid a more livable wage, which the district has had issues doing.

“Retention has been a huge deal,” said Chief Rich Stirts. “We’ve been through 32 employees in the last three years. That’s almost a complete turnover.”

According to Chief Stirts, many firefighters who come through the fire protection district move on to other stations after training, or they change careers and end up leaving the district. Then, the process of getting a new firefighter starts all over.

“Our main goal with this proposition is to employ retention, improve staff, and try to keep them here because it’s very costly training these guys, and they get trained, then they leave, and they move on,” said Chief Stirts. “It’s been repeating itself for several years.”

So here’s how it works. That 25-cent property tax levy will increase how much tax you pay on your home. That means, for the current tax levy, at 56 cents for every $100 of your home’s value, you’d instead pay 81 cents per $100.

From there, the math gets a little more complicated. For example, if your home is valued at $200,000, you multiply that by the tax rate,19%. That gives you an assessed valuation of $38,000. Then, divide that $38,000 by 100, giving you 380. You multiply that by the 25-cent increase, wprovides you withs you $95 annually or roughly $8 monthly.

Stirts believes if the fire district can retain more firefighters within the district, it could save money in the long run.

“It costs ten to 15 thousand dollars every time you bring a new employee on to train them, outfit them, get them set up,” said Stirts. “And 32 employees in that time is a bunch of money.”

To read more about Proposition 1, please visit:.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.

Copyright 2024 KY3. All rights reserved.