Membership dues to the Owensville Rural Fire Protective District have been increased by $10, effective today (Jan. 1).

The Owensville Rural Fire Protective District (ORFPA) is operated in conjunction with the Owensville Fire Department, an all-volunteer organization, and the city of Owensville.

Residents and businesses in the city limits of Owensville have a portion of their taxes earmarked for fire protection services. Residents outside the city limits with properties in southern Gasconade County and not in a neighboring tax-supported fire district are part of the rural association.

This increase, from $48 to $58 annually, covers each non-adjoining property, residence and business.

The $10 increase is estimated to increase the amount collected annually by approximately $20,000, according to Cheryl Schlottach, treasurer for ORFPA. Past collections typically generate in the neighborhood of $100,000 per year. The average collection fluctuates, she said, depending on the collection rate which is around 75 percent.

Some residents, or non-resident property owners, she said, simply don’t pay the dues.

Membership in the rural association includes coverage and potential costs during responses for motor vehicle crashes.

A state law allows community fire and rural fire associations to be compensated for emergency fire and manpower responses for motor vehicle incidents within their jurisdiction. If you are in the ORFPA coverage area but have not paid your dues, you may be billed on an hourly basis if fire and rescue services are dispatched to assist you in the case of a vehicle crash.

The rural association contributes half of the funding to operate the volunteer fire department and the city of Owensville funds the other half. The city has increased funding for the fire service by $25,000 this past year and the rural association was asked to match that amount, according to ORFPA officials.

This increase raises the overall operating budget for local fire service from approximately $150,000 in the past to $200,000.

While operating costs for the Owensville Volunteer Fire Department has gone up consistently over the past 10 years, this is the first increase in rural fire dues for 12 years, according to ORFPA officials.

Plans also call for digging a new water well and constructing an underground water storage facility at Mt. Sterling which will allow for increased fire coverage in that community. Estimates on the project are listed at more than $20,000, according to ORFPA. Improving radio coverage in the northern area of the association’s protection zone is estimated to cost $5,000.

The rural association will also contribute annual payments of $15,000 which are earmarked for a new rescue pumper which has been ordered for delivery later in 2020. That truck will cost $360,000 with payments split between the rural association and the city of Owensville.

This new rescue rig being manufactured now will replace the one which was totalled out in an early-morning 2019 crash on Route EE. Firemen from an Owensville station were responding to a call for a vehicle into a utility pole with lines down when the unit went off the edge of the highway and skidded to a stop on its side.

A replacement for that unit was put into service mid-year — a used truck acquired from Washington’s department at a cost of $39,500.

ORFPA also intends to help upgrade radio coverage in the northern area of the association’s region at an estimated cost of $5,000. Repairs to three brush ($5,000) and a tanker/tender truck ($10,000) are also listed as expenses on a letter which will be mailed to rural residents by mid-January.

The rural association is also contributing toward the purchase of a used brush truck acquired in December from the state of California. The truck was already outfitted for fire service with a water tank and pumping system.

Darrell Decker, president of the rural association’s board of directors, had noted earlier this year the group has worked hard to spend money frugally. Donations of manpower and materials have allowed the association to install six dry hydrants in strategic locations across their coverage area to assist with refilling of tankers.

Upgrades and renovations to the fire house in Mt. Sterling have been made. ORFPA has also used funds from dues collected to purchase a backup generator, leaf blowers, air packs, and a rescue jet boat.