Fire District 4 to Hold Second Vote for Funds

After already getting approval from voters to purchase two new fire trucks for Fire District 4, one more special election will be held to request an additional $100,000 to complete the purchases.

The special vote will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Finderne Fire House on East Main Street.

Voters in Fire District 4, which encompasses the Finderne Fire Company, approved a referendum in mid-April to purchase two new fire trucks, with a vote of 34 to 0.

The district was requesting approval to purchase a triple combination pumper fire apparatus and a 100-foot aerial platform fire apparatus.

The request was for $1.25 million.

But now that they have started getting bids for the trucks, the district has found it needs a little more money.

“The purpose of the meeting is that we need to get voter approval to spend an additional $110,000 for the bid we put out for the new truck and engine,” said commissioner Allen Kurdyla.

He said the district received only one bid for the trucks, and it is roughly $108,000 higher than they had projected.

Kurdyla said the district believed another vote would be a better idea than rebidding.

“We sent the original specs out to six bidders, and getting only one back was disappointing,” he said. “But we know a very good effort was put in to make the specification that multiple bidders could respond to.”

“If we were to start the process all over, it’s our opinion that pricing would come in equal to what we have today, if not higher, because of the time that has transpired since we started the process.”

Prior to this, Kurdyla said, the district actually had one vendor with a truck that fit the bill because the fire company was willing to work with a demo truck.

“But right before we issued the bid, it was sold,” he said. “That cost us about $100,000 because we were not able to take advantage of that cost.”

If the voters do approve the additional money, Kurdyla said, the district will still not be raising taxes.

Taxes were not set to rise based on the original referendum either—that request was budget neutral and did not change what was approved in the February elections at all.

A couple years ago, the district started saving money to its capital fund, knowing that it would have to replace trucks.

They had saved roughly $700,000 in the capital fund for the purchases, and they are anticipating a seven-year payment plan for the trucks.

If the latest vote passes, Kurdyla said, they will just reevaluate the time frame for replacing the next piece of equipment.

“Maybe we will push it off a year or two so taxes will not be affected,” he said. “The whole goal has been to do this without raising taxes.”