The Osage Beach Fire District board of directors and Fire Chief Paul Berardi are happy to announce that at Tuesdays monthly board meeting we signed off on LOWERING the property tax rate we will be receiving.

In 2022, voters agreed for the fire district to collect sales tax in addition to property tax with the promise that property taxes will be lowered in accordance with the amount of sales tax being collecting beginning in 2024.

Since then we have been able to replace multiple pieces of aging apparatus, pay the remaining balance of station 2, and increase firefighter salaries to a much more competitive level to retain firefighters, amongst other items.

This includes:

• Raising wages for starting firefighters to start at $17.50 per hour and by 2027 this number will increase to $19.50 per hour.

• A PTO buyback program to help firefighters during the holidays

• We also began participating in the Missouri Critical illness cancer pool which helps firefighters diagnosed with job related cancer.

We are pleased to inform the public that we are making good on our promise to lower the property tax rate.

Rather than collecting the regular .74 cents per $100, the Osage Beach Fire District will collect .45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. This LOWERS the tax for our residents by .29 cents!!

This was made possible through the .005 (1/2 of 1 cent) sales tax being collecting throughout the year by both residents and visitors of our area. We would like to take a moment to thank the voters for trusting in us and allowing us the funding to continue improving the service we provide.

“Our Family, Protecting Your Family, Because We Care”