Two tax-rate-decrease proposals that could save taxpayers nearly $10.5 million have been placed on the April 7 ballot by the Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors.

The three-member Board of Directors — Chairman Aaron Hilmer, Treasurer Bonnie Stegman and Secretary Ed Ryan — voted unanimously to place Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 on the April 7 ballot.

If Proposition 1 is approved by a simple majority of voters, the district’s general-fund tax-rate ceiling would be permanently reduced by 36 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

If a simple majority of voters approve Proposition 2, the district’s pension-fund tax-rate ceiling would be permanently reduced by 4 cents per $100.

Approval of both propositions would equate to a tax-rate reduction of $10,440,000 per year, according to Hilmer.

Hilmer and Stegman were elected to the board in April 2005 after running a reform campaign in which they pledged to eliminate fiscal waste and roll back a 33-cent tax-rate increase, Proposition S, that voters had approved in November 2004.

Hilmer and Stegman had voted in January 2007 to place Proposition TD, or Tax Decrease, on the April 3, 2007, ballot. But Concord resident Dennis Skelton filed a lawsuit Feb. 7, 2007, seeking the removal of the tax-rate-decrease measure from the ballot. Skelton, who ran as a write-in candidate for the fire district Board of Directors in April 2007, was defeated by Ryan.

In a Feb. 9, 2007, ruling, Judge James R. Hartenbach ordered the Board of Election Commissioners to remove Proposition TD from the April 3, 2007, ballot.

But legislation signed in July by then-Gov. Matt Blunt, states: “Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting a political subdivision from voluntarily levying a tax rate lower than that which is required under the provisions of this section or from seeking voter approval of a reduction to such political subdivision’s tax-rate ceiling.”

That measure, Senate Bill 711, was sponsored by former Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood.

Before the board voted to place the propositions on the ballot, Hilmer recalled how the November 2004 Proposition S tax-rate increase had been formulated by the Fire District Advisory Committee for Tomorrow’s Emergency Services, or FACTS, during a two-month public engagement process that involved about 100 district residents.

“When Prop S was passed, the tax rate was set to be $1.22 per $100 of assessed valuation in 2005. In 2009, the reality was it was 55 cents. Instead of a 36-percent tax increase, residents have seen a 50-percent tax decrease and tremendous service improvements …,” Hilmer said.

“This will also provide a cathartic effect to put this episode behind us and move forward in regaining the public’s trust. Before we vote to approve Prop 1 and Prop 2, I would like to put out that if approved, we would still have an extra 6-cent ceiling above what we’re taking for 2009.

“This equates to roughly $1.5 million a year. Or in layman’s terms, that’s what roughly it costs to build a brand-new firehouse. So to say that voters could decrease their tax rate by $10.5 million a year and still leave enough to build a new firehouse every year is tremendous,” he said.

During a period for public comment Friday, Skelton said, “… We’ve placed these on the — or proposing to place them on the ballot in April and if they’re so important … why weren’t they placed on the ballot in November because people are speculating now it’s just to complement Bonnie’s election. She’s the treasurer. She’s (in) the upcoming election and it’s going to lure people to the polls …”

Asked why the board did not place the propositions on the November ballot, Hilmer told the Call, “We wanted to wait until April because the election board told me that since we have a director’s race in April, the cost to the district would probably be zero dollars. She said perhaps it could run up to $200. If we would have put it on in November, it would have been in excess of $50,000.”

Hilmer continued, “… One question people ask is: If the board can decide what the tax rate is, why let voters decide on this? All it would take is a vote of two Board of Directors members next year to, in effect, double the taxes that people are paying to the fire district. This is a chance for voters to ensure that never happens in the future …”