November 24, 2024
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Oswego Fire District to ask voters again to OK property tax hike to fund operations

Voters narrowly rejected initial request for increase last year

By John Etheredge
A sign placed in an Oswego parkway urged voter support for the Oswego Fire Protection District's April 6 tax hike referendum. Voters, however, turned down the tax hike request.

FILE PHOTO: A sign placed in an Oswego parkway urged voter support for last year's Oswego Fire Protection District's tax hike referendum. Voters, however, turned down the tax hike request. (Shea Lazansky)

The Oswego Fire Protection District will ask voters for a second time to approve a property tax hike to help finance district operations.

In a statement issued Tuesday, March 15, the fire district announced that its board of trustees had voted unanimously to place the request for a rescue tax on the June 28 primary election ballot.

If approved by voters, fire district officials estimate the one-tenth of 1% tax increase would cost the owner of a home with a market value of $100,000 an additional $33 annually, while the owner of a home with a fair market value of $300,000 would expect to pay an additional $99 per year.

“With costs continuing to rise, we are seeking these funds to ensure that we maintain current services,” district officials said in the statement. “The need for additional monies to maintain the services we provide are necessary since the growth of the community, cost of apparatus/equipment and operating costs have outpaced current funding. The Oswego Fire Protection District responded to more than 6,000 calls in 2021 compared to the 2,000 calls in 2002. The growth continues significantly in our community and the cost of apparatus and equipment continue to rise.”

Fire district officials said the trustees concluded that without the tax increase they will not be able to continue to provide the current level of service.

“Ambulance availability will continue to decrease, and response times will increase. Our staff and trustees find this unacceptable and are seeking the increased funding in the best interests of our community,” district officials said.

In April 2021, district voters narrowly rejected the agency’s request for a property tax increase. The referendum went down to defeat by just 298 ballots out of more than 5,100 cast.

The fire district serves an area far beyond its namesake village of Oswego.

The agency’s boundaries cover a 64-square-mile area that includes the village of Oswego, the unincorporated Boulder Hill subdivision, much of the south side of the village of Montgomery, about 1 1/2 square miles of the Grande Park subdivision in the village of Plainfield, a small area of the city of Yorkville and the unincorporated county areas that lie between many of the municipal boundaries. The fire district’s population has increased from about 27,000 in 2002, the last year the fire district attempted and secured passage of a referendum, to an estimated 65,000 as of last year.