The Warrenton Fire Protection District Board of Directors issued $10 million in bond funds that were approved by voters along with a 25-cent tax increase during the April election. 

According to Fire Chief Anthony Hayeslip, the resolution for those bonds was approved at the board’s July 15 meeting. The bonds will be officially sold at their close date on July 29. 

Hayeslip said as part of the bonding process the district received a BBB+ bond rating from the S&P Ratings Firm. 

To shore up that rating and improve their interest rates, the district purchased bond insurance at a cost of roughly $62,000, according to Hayeslip. 

That insurance improved the district’s bond rating to AA and allowed the district to obtain improved interest rates and a shortened bond maturity of only 16 years. 

He said even with the added cost of bond insurance, the improved bond agreement will mean significant savings for the district, and by extension, taxpayers. 

“We were able to structure it, instead of a 20-year bond, as a 16-year bond, and that would save the taxpayers $1.3 million,” said Hayeslip. 

After fees from the bonding process to underwriter Stifel and bond council Gilmore and Bell, those bonds will make $9.6 million available for capital improvements to the district. 

The district plans to invest some of those funds in treasury bonds to accrue interest while they work through their schedule of purchases and projects. 

Those funds will be divided between improvements to Stations 1 and 2 and the purchase of three new fire trucks, and that process is already underway. 

The district previously announced it plans to purchase two Rosenbauer fire trucks from Sentinel Emergency Solutions at a cost of roughly $1.2 million each. 

Hayeslip said those trucks should hopefully be delivered in roughly 18 months. 

The district has also budgeted an additional $2.2 million for the purchase of a new ladder truck, which Hayeslip said he hoped would be available in roughly three years. 

They have also maintained a contract with Arch Imaging for improvements to Station 1 including the addition of living quarters to staff the station full time, as well as improvements to the garage. 

Work on those designs is still in progress. 

The district also budgeted $750,000 to replace the parking lot at Station 2 and $500,000 for renovations to the interior of the building. Hayeslip had previously said he hoped they would be under budget on the parking lot improvements and he was proud to follow through on that promise. 

The district awarded a bid to TS Banze Construction for the replacement of the parking lot at Station 2 for just over $400,000, according to Hayeslip. 

“Most of our items that we had listed have been coming in under budget, and some of them significantly under budget,” said Hayeslip. 

The district’s 25-cent tax increase will take effect in January 2026 and once renovations to Station 1 are complete they will begin the process of hiring additional firefighters. 

Hayeslip reiterated his commitment to transparency throughout the process of their improvements and said he planned to continue periodic updates to the public on their progress. 

“I want to try to outline where we’re at, where we’re headed, what we’ve got done, things like that,” said Hayeslip. “We’ll keep everybody abreast of what we’re doing.”