Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
By TIM ROWDEN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
The Meramec Ambulance District is seeking voters’ approval of a sales tax to buy a new ambulance and hire more employees to accommodate the district’s growing number of calls.
Chief John Parini says the proposal for a tax of one-half of 1 percent will result in a net increase of $450,000 in the first year and $225,000 in subsequent years, when the district will use half of the proceeds from the sales tax to reduce the district’s property tax.
Under state law, passage of the measure will require the district to lower its property tax rate in an amount equal to half of the money generated by the sales tax in the first year.
The district’s tax rate last year was 30.25 cents for each $100 of assessed value. Parini estimates the tax rate would fall to 24.47 cents if the proposal is approved, then continue to drop each year.
Parini says passage of the measure will allow the district to hire six more full-time paramedics, bringing the total to 24. The district serves eastern Franklin County and nearby parts of Jefferson and St. Louis counties.
Parini says the new employees will allow the district to staff a fourth ambulance.
Longterm plans call for the district to build a fourth station house in the Labadie area. The district currently has stations in Pacific, Robertsville and Villa Ridge.
Parini says Meramec currently relies on help from other ambulance districts when it receives a call while its three current ambulances are in service.
Switching from a property tax to a sales tax, Parini says, will spread costs beyond residents to include the thousands of people each year who shop or visit attractions within the district.