NEBCO special election OKd by County Quorum Court

BENTONVILLE — The Quorum Court approved a special election for the Northeast Benton County

Volunteer

Fire Department at its meeting

Thursday,

April 25.

The election to increase fire dues will be held July 9.

It will be the first increase of any kind in 20 years for the department,

NEBCO Fire

Chief Rob

Taylor said.

“We have to get ahead of the game,”

Taylor said.

“We probably sat back and waited longer than we should have. Everything we do is to better the community and make it safer.”

The department covers an 84-square-mile fire district where the population has grown to about 5,000 people, Taylor said. The rate increase would help the district hire two part-time fire employees who would be on-site 24 hours a day. The price of fire equipment also continues to rise, he said.

The 22-member Fire Department is all volunteer, Taylor said. The department has five stations with two trucks each, he said. The department also has two full-time paid EMS positions and 25 parttime emergency medical service spots, he said.

The membership fee brought in $168,500 last year, $167,000 in 2017 and $164,000 in 2016, Taylor said.

The fire district has a participation rate of about 96 percent of eligible residents, board chairman Dean Adair told the Committee of the Whole on April 16. The department also regularly holds fundraisers, he said.

The proposed rates would be $84 a year for structures less than $100,000 in value, $154 for structures worth $100,000 to $300,000 and $244 for structures over $300,000, according to county documents.

The rates now are $40 for the first level, $75 for the second and $120 for the third, Taylor said. The increased fee would start to be collected in 2020 if approved by voters this summer, he said.

Calls for service continue to increase, Taylor said. There were between 650 and 660 EMS and fire calls last year, and the department has been on 230 calls this year, he said. The average was about 620 calls a year before 2018, he said.

Taylor has been the fire chief since 2002. When he started with NEBCO in 1984, the department had two stations and four trucks. He has seen the department’s coverage area change

dramatically over time.

“There are a lot more homes being built on the lake; more roads are being added,” he said. “It’s just been an influx of more people.”

Taylor said in the lead-up to the special election he plans to have a few town halls about the proposed rate increase.

The department would pay the cost of the special election, according to county documents. It is the only upcoming special election the Benton County Election Commission has scheduled, said Kim Dennison, election coordinator.

The court approved the special election by emergency ordinance.

Also Thursday night, the Quorum Court approved:

• Naming Brent Boydston to the 911 Administration Board.

• A local law enforcement equipment grant for the Sheriff’s Office. The grant was for $2,300.

• A Walton Family Foundation grant for the new Coroner/Maintenance building tree plan. The grant was for $8,810.