Oswego Fire Protection District officials are trying a new approach to gain passage of a referendum to help the agency pay for its rising operational costs, shawlocal.com reported.
The agency’s Board of Trustees has placed a referendum on the April 4 ballot that, if approved, would allow the district to sell up to $17 million in general obligation bonds to pay for what district officials describe as its “critical needs,” the report said.
A fire official said the fire district would, in turn, use the proceeds from the bond sale over next 10 years to buy new vehicles and equipment, fund the construction of an additional fire station and retire a portion for the district’s current debt, according to the report.
Among the items in the capital improvement plan targeted for funding with bond proceeds, the fire official said, are the purchase of three new fire engines, the replacement of two ambulances, the rechassieing of three other ambulances and the purchase of an additional ambulance, five staff cars, rescue tools and cardiac monitors, the report said.
The fire official said one of the fire engines the agency is seeking to replace dates to 1998, while the oldest ambulance was acquired in 2006, according to the report.