The Mehlville Fire Protection District’s (MFPD) Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to add Proposition S to the April 5 ballot. The measure will ask voters to approve the consolidation of MFPD’s general fund and ambulance fund into one. The ambulance fund would then be eliminated.

Currently, the fire district has four different funds, including the general and ambulance funds, and alarm and pension funds. Each fund has its own tax levy. As it stands now, payroll and purchases are divided between the general fund and the ambulance fund, which each currently levies 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Aaron Hilmer, chairman of MFPD’s board of directors, said that the proposed changes would take the 20 cents currently applied to the ambulance fund and simply shift it into the general fund.

“There will be no reduction or increase in taxes and no reduction in services,” Hilmer said. “It's going to save a lot of man power. Internally, we could save at least $20,000 just in the time we’ll save.”

The district currently processes about 200 invoices each month, and some are allocated to the ambulance fund while others are allocated to the general fund. The approval of Prop S would save significant time on data entry and transferring money between funds. Plus, it would eliminate some paperwork for the department since it would have one less tax levy to complete in the fall.

Hilmer pointed out that putting Prop S on the ballot won’t cost taxpayers a dime because everything is electronic. But, he said, the community could benefit from the consolidation.

“Instead of focusing on the redundancy of multiple funds, we can focus on ways to improve the fire district,” he said. “The separate funds and taxes worked well 40 years ago, but we’re trying to bring things up to date for 2011.”

Specifically, the language of the Prop S ballot reads, “Shall the Board of Directors of the Mehlville Fire Protection District be authorized to consolidate the ambulance fund and the general fund, reducing the former by 20 cents and increasing the latter by 20 cents respectively per $100 assessed valuation, as a cost-saving measure to simplify and streamline accounting procedures of the district? If this proposition is approved by a majority of the voters, the overall tax rate will remain the same and there will be no reduction in service.''

“We are asking for the voters’ approval,” Hilmer said. “It would be a tremendous boon to the district.”