I bet many of you didn't know we had our very own Fire Protection District. We do and the three members of the district toil in virtual anonymity. Their duty is to act on our behalf to manage our agreements, in this case, with South Platte Fire, our current provider of fire protection. They also provide first response to medical emergencies, you probably have noticed the truck responding to a neighbor in distress when there is not fire emergency (WL Police and AMR (ambulance) also respond as well). The WLFPD is asking for an increase in the levy to the max ceiling provided by law of $1.13 of assessed valuation. The WLFPD recently sent a letter out to citizens explaining the issue. It was a rather convoluted explanation that left me (and others) with lots of questions. Has the WLFPD investigated anyone else for fire services (KCMO)? Have they considered just contracting for fire and not non-fire emergency response?...is AMR providing adequate response to make non-fire redundant? What role has TIF played in the calculation of our rate from South Platte? (Okay, an explanation of TIF would send this post into overtime...but note Parkville is using the TIF argument in its protest of the transportation tax distribution with Platte County) (We do not have a TIF).
I would lean to vote "No" because of these unanswered questions...but at the same time I do not want to hamstring the WLFPD board members. They note in their letter there will be a levy rate hearing in August. I think engagement with the members prior to that meeting would be in order.
My vote "Yes" to the levy question.
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