WINFIELD – A group of citizens recently gathered at Winfield-Foley Fire Protection District (WFFPD) Station 1 to learn more about Proposition Fire.

This informational town hall hosted by Chief Arron Lee gave residents a review of the history, mission and coverage of the fire district along with details on why this proposition was added to the April 8 ballot.

Chief Lee addressed a few of the most common misconceptions in the community at the information meeting: that WFFPD is a paid department and that there are only two active and two closed firehouses.

Lee said there are four active firehouses in the district with assigned staff and equipment covering the 95-square mile area.

Also, WFFPD is not a paid fire department. However, if Prop Fire passes the intention would be to move the volunteer staff to paid-per-call staff, grow the live-in program, and move forward with staffing during the weekdays when the volunteers are typically at work.

This would be possible via a 37-cent per $100 of assessed property value levy.

One resident asked during the meeting what the benefit of having this daytime staff would be. Chief Lee answered WFFPD believes this will improve “workday” response times with guaranteed in-station availability.

“We work very hard to cut our response times down but there’s only so much you can do when rely[ing] on 100 percent volunteer,” he added.

Paid, scheduled firefighters could also have the added benefit of lower homeowners’ insurance rates with an improved Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating for the district.

Growth is just part of the chief’s answer to why this measure is being brought to voters now. Lee shared the anticipated growth rate for Lincoln County which is expected to be in the top two counties in Missouri, substantially greater growth than neighboring St. Charles County.

Additionally, the district has five growing schools, two major highways as well as a major waterway and railway. WFFPD has doubled in population from 1990.

Lee highlighted that the members of the board and district leadership are very focused on transparency and continuing strong stewardship of the additional funds residents have approved and provided via general obligation bond requested in 2021. That bond, which is the only change in department funding since 1990, will likely be paid off early saving taxpayers over $100,000 in interest.

The budget and available tax income has not expanded at the same rate as growth in district and call volume and district leadership doesn’t believe the budget can support the projected growth.

Though there are challenges, a representative from Lincoln County Ambulance District said, “You guys are very, very impressive with what you have now, and if you guys are given the opportunity to grow…it’s fantastic,” when the discussion moved to the county’s other first responders’ thoughts on Prop Fire.

Many other questions were answered throughout with the final ones being why the district didn’t aim for a sales tax instead.

Chief Lee put it simply – there isn’t enough sales in the district to provide the funds needed to move the department forward, sustainably. Part of this department longevity plan is to grow the live-in program by making all stations live-in capable to grow the responder team.

“The culture we have built–inside these four walls is just amazing…we want to maintain that. We want to get to the point where we have people beating down our door to come in and be a part of us.”

Another Town Hall is scheduled for 6:30 pm on April 2 at Winfield-Foley Fire Protection District.