The Waynesville Rural Fire Department is in the process of educating the public about the need for a tax increase

The Waynesville Rural Fire Protection District is in the process of educating the public about the need for a tax increase of 30 cents per one hundred dollars of assessed real estate and personal property. Since being formed in 1997 with a 30-cents-per-one hundred dollar tax levy, the levy has been rolled back by the Hancock Amendment to 21.86 cents in 2009. Voters approved an additional 25 cents in 2010, which was rolled back two times to the current rate of 45.21 cents.
Ed Fowler, Waynesville Rural Fire Protection District Batallion Chief, tells about events where voters can learn more about the need for the tax increase and about how inflation has hit the department extremely hard.

The District’s total budget this year is $858,362.49, which is almost 300-thousand dollars less than last year. Waynesville Rural Fire Protection District is the largest in the county, stretching from parts of I-44 to the Gasconade River, the Big Piney River, and Roubidoux Creek.
Proposition Fire, as it is called, will be on the April 4th ballot for voters in the Waynesville Rural Fire Protection District only.