Ambulance board will appoint member in district where no one filed for April 3 election

The Ozark County Ambulance District will participate in the April 3 general municipal election by having a county-wide ballot asking voters to approve a tax levy increase, but it won’t hold a write-in election to fill the board position in District 3, where no one filed for the seat before the Jan. 16 filing deadline. Instead, OCAD administrator Eddie Delp told the Times Monday, after the term of current District 3 representative Ray Peter expires in April, the board will appoint a replacement after posting the vacancy and inviting applications from residents of the district, which includes Richland, Spring Creek, Pine Creek and Jackson townships in the northeastern corner of the county. 

That same kind of board of directors vacancy exists now in District 2, which includes the voting precincts of West Bridges and Pontiac on the south side of the county, following the recent resignation of Janice Fischer, who cited health reasons.

The ambulance board has run notices in the Times recently inviting residents in District 2 to contact OCAD if they’re interested in filling the term, which expires in 2020. For more information, send a letter to the board at 1261 County Road 806, Gainesville, MO 65655, or call the OCAD office at 679-3624 and leave a message. 

Delp said he expects the board to name the replacement member at its Feb. 13 meeting. 

The tax levy increase that’s being requested by the ambulance district would reset the district’s current levy rate of .1242 cents per $100 of assessed valuation up to a maximum of 28 cents per $100, starting in the current tax year. In last week’sTimes, Delp reminded readers that, if voters approve the request, the actual property tax collected will be reduced proportionately depending on the amount of sales tax collected. An existing half-cent sales tax helps fund the ambulance district, and the county “takes the total dollars of sales tax collected and deducts that amount from the property tax to be collected,” he said.

Details about the district’s levy request will be reported in an upcoming edition of the Times. 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423