Custer Fire referendum approved

By: 
Marney Simon
Staff writer

Custer Fire will collect more cash from taxpayers in an effort to save its fire department.

On March 20, a total of 333 Custer Township voters headed to the polls, approving the referendum by a vote of 194 to 139.

The referendum will allow the fire protection district to keep their own fire station, and set their own tax rate, rather than be subject to the rate of a neighboring district.

The current rate in Custer Township for the corporate fund is .1281, and the current rate for the ambulance fund is .0900.

The newly passed referendum will increase the rate on only the corporate fund to .4000, the maximum capped rate allowed by the Property Tax Extension Limit Law (PTELL). That increase would mean an annual tax increase of $136 for a $150,000 home, and would increase revenue in the corporate fund by more than $96,000 annually.

The referendum did not affect the ambulance fund.

The approval means the department can add additional tax dollars to their coffers to pay for dispatch services from the new Laraway Communications Center. The funds will also permit the district to change its insurance status to operational, and pay the additional premium cost, and to start updating the turnout gear that is reaching the end of its 10-year lifespan.

The anticipated costs to reopen are approximately $131,719, which includes nearly $50,000 for gear, $12,000 for building maintenance and repairs, and just over $20,000 for dispatching through the Laraway Road dispatch center. An agreement for dispatching is not finalized.

On top of that one-time expected expenditure to reopen, annual operations costs are expected to cost roughly $114,572, which includes insurance, dispatching, training, fuel, utilities, certifications, legal fees, and a flexible amount of cash earmarked for a reserve fund.

The district collected $77,188 in property taxes last year; $31,852 for its ambulance service levy and $45,336 for its fire protection levy. Per an agreement with Braidwood, the district pays 80 percent of its ambulance service levy, keeping 20 percent for ambulance service related expenditures such as the audit. The cost of fire protection services from Braidwood is $1,200 per call, with a maximum of $18,000.