Third fire station in Antioch area to reopen as voter approval for tax hike stands
The Antioch Fire Department will reopen a third fire station as planned, as voter approval of a tax hike to fund ambulance service is now in the books.
"The late votes and everything are counted now and it looks like we're successful with a win by 11 votes," said Matt Tabar, a trustee with the First Fire Protection District, the taxing authority for the fire department.
The district and the village of Antioch, which split operating costs for fire protection and ambulance service, each separately had sought voter approval on the April 7 ballot for the tax increase.
Voters in the village backed the hike by more than 300 votes, but the margin of approval in the unincorporated area covered by the district was only eight votes after the polls closed. Until this week, fire officials were uncertain whether provisional and late-arriving mail ballots would change the outcome.
However, the final tally came in at 871 votes in favor and 860 against.
Owners of a house valued at $170,000 in the village or township will pay about $142 per year in additional property tax, which is expected to raise $1.5 million annually for the fire service. However, the increase won't be levied and collected until next year, and the fire district plans to borrow money to bridge the gap.
At 6 a.m. May 3, the station will be open and operating with a fire and ambulance crew available.
A pumper truck with 100,000 miles that had become the department workhorse will be repaired and moved to Station 3. Its replacement is a 1997 pumper with 28,000 miles the district bought for $45,000 from the Knollwood Fire Department, Tabar said.
"We were able to get a really good deal," he said. The cost of a new pumper is about $800,000, he added. "We're still being frugal."