Excerpts from DailyHerald.com:
The Hampshire Fire Protection District is making another push this fall to raise property taxes after two previous failures. This time, the district is hoping voters will approve a binding referendum on the November 6 ballot that would allow for a 0.1% tax increase.
If passed, the new tax would generate approximately $236,000 annually to fund an emergency and rescue fund. According to Deputy Chief Trevor Herrmann, the money would be used to replace outdated equipment and hire more staff. A homeowner with a $200,000 property would pay an extra $67 per year in taxes.
The district's only fire station at 202 Washington Ave. currently operates with five firefighters about 25% of the time, while other shifts are covered by just four. To better handle the growing number of emergency calls—over 1,200 per year—the fire department wants to increase staffing to five or six per shift. That means hiring around five additional part-time firefighters.
Currently, the district employs six full-time and 34 part-time firefighters. With more personnel, crews would be better prepared to respond to multiple incidents simultaneously—a situation that occurred nearly 200 times last year.
A portion of the new tax revenue would also go toward purchasing essential equipment, including a $600,000 fire engine and a $200,000 ambulance. Officials are also actively seeking grants to help cover these costs.
This isn’t the first time the district has tried to raise taxes. Previous attempts in 2017 and the last election were rejected by voters. Now, the district is using social media, community meetings, and a citizen advisory committee to build support for the proposal.
In 2017, they also failed to pass a second referendum that would have added a 0.15% tax to fund a second fire station near Route 20 and Interstate 90—an area seeing significant growth. While that plan was put on hold, the district is now exploring options to build a second station on the north side of the district without asking for more taxpayer funding.
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