ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Due to a new state law, fire protection districts can now ask voters to help fund them using a sales tax, and nearly every fire district in St. Louis and St. Charles counties is asking voters for approval, 29 in total.
While the state law does allow for sales tax funding for fire districts, that’s a new idea, but it also requires these districts to give half of that money back in property tax relief. That shifting of the tax burden is the argument the Monarch Fire chief is making, saying it allows his district to be less reliant on property taxes long-term, but some aren’t buying it.
“One of the biggest things that we are facing is more and more growth,” said Russ Adams, Chief of the Monarch Fire Protection District…