Voters in eastern Audrain County will be asked to create a new fire protection district soon, and that new district would come with a new tax.

The Vandalia Rural Fire Association, Vandalia Fire Department and Farber Volunteer Fire Department would form the Var-Far Fire Protection District if voters approve the measure on Aug. 5.

Along with the formation of the fire district, voters will be asked to authorize levying a tax of up to 30 cents per $100 of assessed value for the district’s funding and then voters will select five people to be the board of directors.

The fire district will cover parts of Audrain, Pike and Ralls counties, will still be volunteer-based and operations will continue at stations in Vandalia and Farber. There will be one board to govern the whole district and one fire chief for the district, and officers will be allocated between the two stations, said Vandalia Fire Chief Brandon Straube.

Straube said he approached the board for the Rural Fire Association two to three years ago about the creation of a fire district because the current funding structure is becoming more inadequate and that’s across all three entities.

“We’re able to operate and provide fire protection to people in the area,” he said, adding, though, that none of the departments could make much of a capital improvement purchase at the current funding. He stressed that people need to vote yes on the incorporation and the levying of the tax.

In information data points given to the Ledger, the formation of a fire protection district will allow the three departments to “operate as a single fire service provider, allowing for better coverage, reduced redundancy in services, and cost-efficiency by sharing resources across a larger area, ultimately providing improved fire protection to all residents within the district boundaries.” 

The info statement also said forming a fire protection district will allow the district to have clearly defined boundaries that will prevent other fire protection organizations from “encroaching on our territory or requiring residents to join their organization that do not wish to. Forming a fire protection district will also allow us to be funded by taxes rather than memberships, city budgets and fundraising.”

In addition, having a fixed, dependable income will allow members to concentrate more on operations, fighting fires, and fire prevention activities rather than worrying about fundraising.

“This funding will also allow us to make long-term investment plans in equipment and other large infrastructure,” the info stated.

Straube said the Rural Fire Association board members started getting the ball rolling on the election in January 2024. A newly formed fire district would have other advantages, the info data sheet noted, such as the district and increased funding will allow for increased training and equipment upgrades that will help improve response time and efficiency to calls, helping improve the ISO rating for fire protection in the district. ISO ratings influence insurance rates, and as the ISO rating improves, people will see some decrease in insurance rates.

Also, the formation of district will also allow for increased consideration in grant applications for equipment and other items to improve the fire protection of the district, and Improved funding, training and equipment will not only have a positive impact on response times and operational efficiencies, “but it will also impact our volunteers in a positive manner allowing better recruitment and retention of volunteers,” the data sheet noted.

Those six people on the ballot for the board of directors are Heather G. Williams, Dean Middleton, Marvin Yager, Justin Hopke, Mark Woodward and Lee Scrogin.