Voters in the Warrenton Fire Protection District and Wright City Fire Protection District have turned down property tax increases in both districts.Warrenton Fire had proposed an increase of 37 cents per $100 assessed property valuation. The district’s current tax levy is 44 cents per $100 assessed valuation.Warrenton Fire Chief Mike Owenby had said the district planned to use the funding to hire nine additional firefighters to be able to respond to multiple calls at once, as well as for purchasing needed equipment.Now, he says the fire district will ask exactly why voters turned down the tax increase and work on a future plan.“We knew this was going to be difficult going in,” Owenby commented. “It’s disappointing, but we’ll continue to do our job as best we can do.”He added that the fire district’s financial position is becoming more challenging, and there is little to no nonessential spending that can be trimmed from the budget.The vote count for the election is unofficial until the Warren County Clerk’s office completes a standard review of the ballots. But the tally from Tuesday night indicates voters in the Warrenton Fire district cast their ballots with about 1,700 (37 percent) in favor of the tax increase and about 2,900 (63 percent) against.Owenby said he was impressed by the turnout, but disappointed in low engagement from voters before the election. Warrenton Fire scheduled several public meetings to answer questions about the tax proposal, but the chief said only a single person attended any of the events.Wright City FireWright City Fire had sought a similar tax increase for similar reasons. The district currently has six firefighters on staff who were hired using federal grant money that runs out next year.The district sought the tax increase in order to keep those firefighters on staff, as well as to replace vital equipment and aging vehicles.The Wright City Fire tax proposal was decided by a relatively close margin of votes, with a Tuesday night count of about 1,300 voting yes and 1,700 voting no, a 12 percent gap.That’s a much narrower margin than two previous tax proposals for Wright City Fire that were on the ballot in April this year. At that time, a property tax increase and a $7 million bond issue were both voted down with about 70 percent voting no.Fire Board President Rudy Jovanovic said district officials are disappointed that a major push to educate the public about the fire district's needs didn't result in enough yes votes.Without bringing in significantly more revenue, Jovanovic said the district will have to use its emergency reserve funding to keep the firefighters on staff and make necessary equipment purchases.

He said the fire district's board of directors has already approved spending upwards of $250,000 from the reserves to keep those six firefighters on staff for a year after the grant expires. Having the extra staff means there are four firefighters responding to every call instead of just two.

The fire district will also have to spend $200,000 from the emergency reserve to replace aging and failing radio equipment, he added.

"By the end of 2019, we will have wiped out everything we have. That’s how critical this need is," Jovanovic said. "The need is real and it’s only going to become more imperative, not less."

Jovanovic said he believes it was a mistake for the fire board not to ask for smaller tax increases over time to account for rising costs. Now, the board will have to review the most recent election results and decide what the next step will be.Taxes