Fire votes slated for Saturday BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer JACKSON — Votes on the 2006 budgets in Jackson’s four fire districts will take place Feb. 18. Residents who go to the polls will also elect fire commissioners in their respective district. No information was available about the budget or the election of fire commissioners in Fire District No. 1. In Fire District No. 2, Wallace W. Jamison, past fire chief/president of the Cassville Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1, said, “The Board of Fire Commissioners has always worked in the best interest of the Cassville company, as it should be. The service that volunteer firemen provide is invaluable.” Jamison said Fire District No. 2 is a combination career/volunteer fire district which has career firefighters supplement the volunteer staff during hours when volunteers are unavailable to respond. Jamison noted that Steven Holmes and James Hammond are running in Fire District No. 2 for the post of fire commissioner. It is also noted that Keith Wickham and Fire Commissioner Bidwell are expected to be running in Fire District No. 2. Richard Braslow, the attorney who represents Fire District No. 2, said a budget of $956,973 will be up for approval. Braslow said $638,654 of the total budget will be raised through taxes and the balance will be raised by funding from surplus, grants and other revenues. Oliver Walling, the accountant for Fire District No. 2, said the tax rate for 2005 was 9.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation ($186 to the owner of a home assessed at $200,000). The projected tax rate for 2006 will be 9.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation ($196 to the owner of a home assessed at $200,000). Fire District No. 2 voters may cast their ballots at the Cassville Firehouse, 785 Miller Ave., between 2-9 p.m. “District 3 [Jackson Volunteer Fire Company No. 1] provides fire protection and daytime first responder EMS services for the northeast section of the township, which operates from the volunteer-owned station on North New Prospect Road at Larsen Road, and from a district-owned station on Kierych Memorial Drive near Johnson Park,” said Deputy Chief Kenneth Byrnes. “The district is served by career and volunteer firefighters Monday to Friday during the day, and exclusively by volunteer firefighters at night and on weekends.” Byrnes said that during 2005, more than 1,100 emergency calls required fire department responses within the district, an increase of 11 percent over 2004. Voters in Fire District No. 3 recently defeated two bond referendums. Passage of the bond questions would have replaced a 21-year-old fire truck and built a new centrally located fire station to help reduce response time, according to fire officials. According to Bonnie Brown, administrative assistant for the district, 520 people out of 13,493 registered voters in Fire District No. 3 voted in the public referendum. The district’s budget for 2006 will be $2.29 million, of which $1.89 million will be raised by taxes. The remainder will come from surplus. The fire district tax rate will rise from 16.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation ($332 to the owner of a home assessed at $200,000) to 16.9 cents per $100 ($338 to the owner of a home assessed at $200,000. The operating appropriations outlined in the 2006 budget are 4.8 percent lower than 2005, with capital appropriations almost 26 percent lower than 2005. The amount to be raised by taxation has increased 2.5 percent from $1.845 million to $1.891 million. Joseph Youssouf, the attorney who represents fire districts No. 3 and No. 4, said there will be two incumbent candidates running in Fire District No. 3, Michael Waters, board chairman, and John E. Siedler. The Tri-Town News has also learned that two other candidates, Erik Eitel and Carmine Flora, will run in this election. No other names were available at press time. Voting for Fire District 3 will be held at 113 N. New Prospect Road between 2-9 p.m. Three candidates will vie for two commissioner seats available in Fire District No. 4, which represents the Jackson Mills Volunteer Fire Company, 465 W. County Line Road. The candidates are current Jackson Mills Fire Chief John Bollentin, former commissioner John P. Sherry and Commissioner Raymond L. Tremer Jr. The 2006 budget is $1.6 million. Of that amount, $1.3 million will be raised from taxpayers and about $250,000 will come from surplus. Youssouf said the fire district tax rate is projected to decrease from 22.3 cents to 19.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will see their fire district tax drop from $446 to $386.