The Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District will ask voters next week to increase the property tax levy to pay for things it believes will improve its services. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more.
Proposition One on the August 4th Greene County ballot asks voters in the Logan-Rogersville Fir e Protection District to approve a 25 cent property tax increase, bringing the current tax levy from 35 cents to 62 cents per $100 assessed property value.
The district’s fire chief, Robert Talburt, said the money would be used to rebuild Fire Station #2 on Blackman Rd., which he says they’ve outgrown, and to build a new fire station in the city limits of Rogersville. The fire protection district currently rents a bay from the city of Rogersville. Talburt said a new station would allow the district to hire full-time firefighters in the city.
"And that also would decrease response times there in the city and potentially lower the insurance rates for people in the city of Rogersville," he said.
He said the tax increase would also allow the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District to hire firefighter paramedics to provide advanced life support.
"On a daily basis, we could wait anywhere from eight to 12 minutes on an ambulance in certain areas of our district, and if we have these guys--paramedics that are able to provide advanced care that much sooner then the chance of survival, you know, definitely increases for a person having a heart attack or a stroke or something like that," he said.
Currently, the highest level of medical provider the district has, he said, is EMT basic. According to Talburt, they have the protocols and equipment in place, but they don’t have anyone licensed at that level.
If approved, a resident in the fire protection district with a $100,000 home will pay about $50 more per year in property taxes.
