Back bond issue for new fire station in Camden Township

The Camden Township Fire Department's overcrowded station in downtown Kipton has seen better days. The department can't fit all five of its fire trucks into the aging building. Space is so tight that one of the trucks is parked up the street in a lean-to, Fire Chief Adam Woodrum told us Thursday. "It's well past its useful life," he said. The building has other problems, including large cracks in its walls. This left township officials with a tough choice: They could either pour money into an aging building, part of which is the original township hall, or they could construct a new station. They wisely decided to build a new, approximately 10,000-square-foot station to serve the needs of the department's roughly 20 volunteer firefighters well into the future. (The department responds to approximately 130 calls per year.) To cover the construction costs, township officials are asking voters to approve a 1.32-mill bond issue that will appear on the ballot as Issue 9. It would be in effect for 25 years. "It's a great department, and we're just asking the community for support," Trustee Gust Ristas told us. Woodrum said the new station, which would cost approximately $1 million to build, would be located at the corner of state Route 511 and state Route 303 because there was no room to build it at the existing fire station's location. Some voters might be concerned that the township is asking for a bond issue even though it will receive additional money because of increased property values. Those additional funds are the result of how inside millage, essentially an unvoted property tax, is calculated, county Auditor Craig Snodgrass told us. However, the township will only receive about $37,000 per year because of higher property values. It wouldn't be enough to cover the bond payments, fees and interest on the project. Thus we don't believe that increase should stop voters from supporting what is a clear need in the township. (Ristas said the additional revenue would likely go toward other township services.) Were Issue 9 to pass, it would generate a little more than $85,000 annually, at a yearly cost of $46 to the owner of a home valued at $100,000, according to Snodgrass' office. That's not excessive, especially since the township and Fire Department have shown fiscal restraint in recent years. For example, in 2021, the township asked voters to increase property taxes to fund the Fire Department, but coupled that increase with a decrease in property taxes to pay for road work. Voters approved both measures by overwhelming margins. Once again, the township is being judicious in asking voters for money. "We're not trying to build the Taj Mahal or anything fancy, but something that's going to last for years," Woodrum said. That's the right approach and a solid reason for voters to back Issue 9.