The Wright City Fire Protection District announced on Sept. 25 that they will be placing a request for an $11 million bond issue, Proposition F, on the ballot in November. 

While the money will be dispersed between several expenses, the priority with the bond issue is to replace WCFPD Station 1, according to Fire Chief Ron MacKnight. 

“The main thing is replacing this fire station,” said Macknight. “This fire station was a repurposed building in 1972, I think it was a propane gas sales building or something, but it was never designed to be a firehouse.”

The district has slowly made additions to Station 1 as they have become necessary including additional space for living quarters, then a training room, then offices, then new living quarters after black mold was discovered. 

“It’s just been a hodgepodge of a la carte firehouse building,” said MacKnight. 

Space is also becoming a concern as there is little to no storage at the station and firefighters would also like more room to put on their gear before calls. Currently they prepare for calls in the garage where the trucks are often running and they are forced to inhale carcinogenic diesel fumes from those vehicles. 

“The carcinogen thing, I emphasize that because on top of the diesel exhaust and everything else, this firehouse has been around for long enough that we’re learning new stuff about carcinogens,” said Firefighter Caleb Grothoff. “And people have been walking around with their boots inside the living quarters, and once those carcinogens get into the carpet it’s nearly impossible to remove them.”

If the bond issue passes in November, the fire district plans to completely replace Station 1 by developing a plot of land on Bell Road that their board purchased roughly 20 years ago into its new headquarters.

The construction of a new Station 1would eat up roughly $6.5 million of the bond issue with the remaining $5.5 million divided between improvements to Station 3 on Highway WW and purchasing a new pumper truck. 

With any remaining funds, MacKnight said they would also like to continue some maintenance work on Station 2 on S. Stracks Church Road and help to pay off the loan for their tanker truck, which was purchased through a different bond issue in 2019. 

“We want to pay that off, because that interest rate is almost six percent, so if we can run these bonds at five (percent) it’s obviously a better deal for the public,” said MacKnight. 

MacKnight acknowledged that this is the second time the district has gone to voters for additional funding in the past five years, and that similar funding measures have failed in the nearby Warrenton Fire Protection District. He continued saying bond issues like these are really the only feasible way the district can make any capital improvements. 

The district reported they have received over $2.2 million in grant funding since 2010, but with those funds drying up, and the Hancock Amendment limiting their ability to raise tax funds on their own, he said the bond was their only option. 

“I think the biggest thing is we have to realize that this is a needs list and not a wants list,” said MacKnight. 

The district has also published a series of frequently asked questions on its website to inform voters, which can be found at wrightcityfire.com/prop-f. 

According to the district website, based on a 20-year financing plan, the bond issue would cost homeowners of a $250,000 home an additional $12.27 a month in taxes. 

MacKnight felt that this was a reasonable ask by the district, and warned that the longer they wait to make these necessary improvements the more expensive they will be. 

“The longer we wait, the more expensive it’s going to be for the public, and for fiscal responsibility as a government entity, we feel that now’s the time,” said MacKnight. 

Per state statutes, to pass the bond issue, the district will have to surpass a four-sevenths majority, or 57.14 percent, when voters decide the proposition’s fate on Nov. 5.