Springfield’s annexation goal worries rural fire chiefs

The city of Springfield is poised to grow, and its Forward SGF 20-year comprehensive plan puts annexation as a top priority.

But outside of the city, the leaders of Greene County’s rural fire protection districts – agencies that rely on property tax revenue for their funding – are worried.

Ken Scott, fire chief in the Willard Fire Protection District, sounded the alarm following recent reporting about Springfield City Council action to change the urban service area, which is the area where city services, like sanitary sewer and transportation, may be extended.

A May 17 article in Springfield Business Journal included a map of the expanded urban service area boundaries, with council members expressing eagerness to begin acting on existing annexation agreements with landowners within it.

Scott had some questions, which he posed in an email to SBJ.

“In the areas that are subject to be annexed, has anyone asked the homeowner if they want to be in the city? Or have they gone off of a contractor’s signature who signed an agreement 30 years ago to get the city to extend the city services?” Scott asked.

A question that is even more pressing to Scott: What about the fire districts?

“Fire districts have tax bases along with bond issues,” he said. “This wrecks any long-term planning, and it causes substantial loss to tax revenue for the fire districts.”

Jamie Kilburn, chief of the Brookline FPD, wrote to express similar concerns.

“There will certainly be setbacks and uncertainties that these annexations will bring to our agencies,” he said. “I can also tell you that the effects would go beyond just the career districts that are bordering the city, i.e., Ebenezer, Willard, Strafford, Logan-Rogersville, Battlefield and Brookline.”

Kilburn added that the more rural and mostly volunteer districts – those that are smaller than the ones he named – would also be impacted by the fire districts’ decreased abilities to help with mutual aid, should tax funding be impacted by annexation. Those districts include Ash Grove, Bois D’Arc, West Republic, Fair Grove, Walnut Grove and other fire districts that extend into adjoining counties, he said.

“The county agencies all help each other, and when the career departments are weakened, so are the volunteer agencies,” Kilburn said.

State legislation
In the 2024 legislative session, Missouri Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, introduced a bill on behalf of the city that would allow Springfield to annex property located within 6 miles of the current city limits if property owners submit a signed petition.

That legislation would not require annexed land to meet two traditional standards – that the annexed property be compact and contiguous.

Senate Bill 979 – which languished in committee in a legislative session widely reported to have been mired in dysfunction – would have allowed the city to annex areas that aren’t even connected to the city, potentially creating small outlying balloons of Springfield property.

It’s a nightmare scenario for fire chiefs, they say, since those boundaries could include pockets of Springfield property that do not produce tax revenue but require fire protection from the nearest agency.

Fire districts’ role
In an interview at the Willard firehouse, Scott said fire protection districts are probably not what many in Springfield envision.

“I think the perception from Springfield is that at least as far as the fire districts go, we’re where we were 35 years ago, where we’re all still volunteers,” he said. “We are all now paid professionals, and we’re offering services sometimes at a higher level than what Springfield’s offering.”

As one example, rural districts often offer advanced life support because of their distance from hospitals. Scott said Springfield offers basic life support.

“We’re a little bit above the care level for the taxpayer than what they would be getting if they go into annexation,” he said.

Kilburn said departments’ Insurance Services Office, or ISO, ratings are based in part on proximity of property to a fire station, with a higher rating resulting in higher insurance costs for property owners. In many rural districts, the goal is to have a fire station within five driving miles of all points within them.

“We plan 20, 30 years down the road,” he said. “We build a firehouse, and our taxpayers pay for that. And then the city comes in and annexes that area where that firehouse is, and the city has to build a firehouse – they’re not going to use ours.”

The result is double taxation for area residents, he said.

The fire chiefs believe legislation is needed to protect fire districts from instability through annexation, in the same way that school districts, which also rely on property tax revenue, remain unchanged when annexation occurs.

Scott said all fire districts are different. He has the city of Willard, whose high school has 1,300 students. The Ebenezer FPD, headed by Nelson Prewitt, provides coverage for Fellows Lake – the source of Springfield’s drinking water. Kilburn’s district includes the U.S. Highway 60 corridor.

“We all have different needs and different priorities,” Scott said.

The need to annex
Springfield Mayor Ken McClure said the city must be focused on growth.

“Annexation and continued growth – in terms of population, area growth and development – are critical for any community, especially one the size of Springfield,” he said.

For decades, the city has been requiring property owners outside of the city to sign annexation consent agreements when city services, like sewer, are extended to them.

“We do have several consent annexations council will be considering in the next weeks and months,” he said.

One such annexation, for a 3-acre tract on the city’s west side, was approved at the June 24 council meeting.

“If we do not continue to grow, we get into a mode of retrenchment,” McClure said. “If we do not lead the way on growth, it’s not good for the region. The key is working with surrounding communities.”

McClure said he understands the difficulties annexation poses to outlying communities.

“We get that. We’re trying to come to accommodations, and we’re hopeful that will happen,” he said.

He said the city will not annex an area if it cannot provide fire coverage.

“As properties are annexed, the city will need to provide services,” he said. “We won’t annex until we’re confident we can provide those services.”

But make no mistake, McClure said: Springfield needs to annex.

“It’s something that we, in my opinion, are several decades behind in terms of the initiative we take on it, but we need to do it in a planned way, cognizant of the impact on the community,” he said.

He described Springfield as the hub for the region.

“Ultimately, Springfield needs to grow,” he said. “As Springfield grows, the region grows, and that’s good for everybody.”

Greene County Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon said the commission did not take a position on Senate Bill 979.

“We knew that Springfield had some annexation issues on the agenda, and we understand some of those issues,” he said. “But we are always mindful that we serve the whole county.”

Dixon said the county includes nine cities and 42 taxing entities.

“We really focused on trying to advocate for a fair process that really benefits everyone, not just the city of Springfield,” he said.

He added that the county is mindful of the city’s need to annex.

“If the city of Springfield is not growing, they will become surrounded and they will become stagnant,” Dixon said. “We understand the issues around the statistics with regard to growth and what those numbers look like if there is not growth of the boundaries of the city – what the jobs report looks like, what the crime stats look like and all of these other things.”

Like McClure, Dixon said fairness is an important standard.

“We’ve got to make sure that whatever process we have, it’s a fair and just process so that the needs of all the citizens of the county are met,” he said.

Dixon added, “There’s a need for the city to be able to grow – absolutely. But it cannot be done at the expense of fire protection in the county, because if a fire district goes bankrupt, who’s going to put out the fire?”