Voters to get choice on fire dues increase

Avoca department request will be on March 5 ballot

If approved, the increase would be the first since 2007. The department’s board requested the ballot measure.

BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s Quorum Court voted during its meeting Thursday to place a dues increase for the Avoca Fire and Rescue Department on the March 5 election ballot.

The proposed increase from $50 a year for each residence or business to $125 requires voter approval. The fee is added to property tax bills collected by the county.

The Quorum Court members voted 14-0 to put the increase request on the ballot.

If approved, the increase would be the first since 2007. The department’s board requested the ballot measure.

There are 2,646 voters in the district covered by the Avoca department, according to the county clerk’s office. The town of Avoca was home to 487 people as of the 2020 census.

The district formed in 1979. The department’s board has held public meetings as far back as April to discuss the department’s financial needs. Firefighters there responded to 399 calls in 2009 and 655 calls in 2022, according to department figures.

A fire department’s Insurance Services Office rating is determined based on how well a department is able to serve its community, according to the website Firefighter Now. A department is assigned a score between 1 and 10, with lower numbers indicating a better score.

The ISO rating is currently a 4 for any property within 5 miles of an Avoca fire station and a 10 in the area of East High Meadows and any property farther than 5 miles from any Avoca fire station, according to a news release from the department earlier this year.

In other business, the justices of the peace approved the third and final reading of an ordinance to repeal the 2012 edition of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code and to adopt the 2021 edition — a vote to maintain a permitting process, except for uninhabited buildings.

Bobby Wilson of Bentonville urged the justices of the peace to vote against the ordinance.

The vote was 9 to 5 in favor of the ordinance.

The Quorum Court voted 14-0 on a resolution to support Israel against terrorism.

The meeting was the last one to be held in the current Quorum Courtroom on the third floor of the county’s Administration Building. Space on the first floor of the building is being remodeled for a new courtroom.

The justices of the peace will hold their meetings next month at the Rogers Annex on Walnut Street.

Tracy M. Neal can be reached by email at tneal@nwaonline.com or Twitter @NWATracy.