Voters in the Boone County Fire Protection District will be casting ballots in April on a $6-million no tax increase bond issue. Fire district assistant chief Gale Blomenkamp emphasizes passage would not increase your taxes:
“In 2014 the voters approved a 25-cent tax increase bond issue. And all we’re doing is asking to extend that 25 cents and keep that on the books,” Blomenkamp says.
If voters approve the measure, the district will spend $2-million to purchase fire apparatus, $3.7-million for new radios and other firefighter equipment and $400,000 to purchase commercial personal protective gear washers and dryers at all fire stations.
Passage of the bond issue requires a four-sevenths majority, which is 57 percent. Assistant chief Blomenkamp tells 939 the Eagle that he’s hopeful:
“Our voters have been very supportive of us in the past, and we’ve generally had no issues in passing bond issues. However, it is something that we have to earn the trust of our voters, and maintain that trust so that we can continue moving forward,” he says.
One of the main components of the proposed $6-million bond issue is the $2-million to purchase fire apparatus. Assistant chief Blomenkamp ells 939 the Eagle that they plan to add two highway safety trucks with attenuators, if the bond issue passes:
“So these attenuators is what you see highway traffic safety crews using. They’re used to block traffic, they’re used to absorb impact should somebody hit them from the rear,” he says.
Blomenkamp says the district now uses two fire trucks, an engine and tanker, to respond to crashes on the highway. District assistant chief Bryant Gladney was killed in a horrific crash on Interstate 70 in 2021, when his vehicle was hit from behind by a tractor trailer.
