If voters pass a special purpose sales tax Nov. 8, Bibb County officials say residents would be voting to improve public safety services without seeing a boost in their property taxes.

In all, $40 million of the $190 million plan is earmarked for public safety, the second most expensive SPLOST project area behind city and county debt retirement.

That total includes $8 million to upgrade an aging radio communications system that law enforcement officers and firefighters use. A new juvenile court facility is budgeted at $7 million.

Patrol car and emergency equipment purchases would cost $5 million, as would courthouse and other building improvements. A new animal control center is projected to cost $3 million.

But the largest proposed public safety expenditure is $12 million for three new fire stations in unincorporated Bibb County.

While funding for one new fire station on New Forsyth Road in northwest Bibb has been in the county’s budget in recent years, it was added to the SPLOST list to avoid hiking property taxes, Bibb County Commission Chairman Sam Hart said.

Without the SPLOST, commissioners would need to increase the millage rate for the county’s fire fund, he said. And if the sales tax proposal itself does not pass, property tax increases are possible to pay for some of the items on the list, he said.

Owners of property in Bibb County outside the city limits pay a separate tax to the county’s fire fund for fire protection. The rate for the fire fund now sits at 2.649 mills.

Land for the station and a fire truck already have been purchased using money from the budget. If the SPLOST passes, the New Forsyth Road station is planned to open in 2012, Fire Chief Marvin Riggins said.

If the proposal fails and the county relies on the fire fund to build the station, construction would be delayed by a year until the fire fund is big enough to continue funding operational costs, in addition to the outlay needed for the station, Riggins said.

The three new fire stations aren’t just needed to provide better fire and first-responder medical services for county residents, but also to prepare for the next Insurance Services Office inspection, which is scheduled for 2013, Riggins said.

The ISO provides ratings for municipal and county fire departments to help insurance companies calculate the cost of premiums.

While the new stations will be located in unincorporated Bibb County, ISO inspectors have indicated that they may evaluate Macon and Bibb County as one entity when they return, posing a potential impact to city residents as well, Riggins said. Macon and Bibb County have been evaluated separately in recent years.

Macon holds ISO’s top rating of 1. Bibb County’s rating is a 3/9, meaning that homes and businesses within 1.5 miles of a fire station with an engine company, within 2.5 miles of a station with an aerial company and within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant are in class 3 zones. All other areas of the county are rated as class 9.

Half of the criteria for an ISO rating is derived from the location of fire stations, what types of trucks are based in certain areas, response times, equipment and training, among other factors.

If the SPLOST passes and the northwest Bibb station opens in 2012, it will be included in inspectors’ next visit. If it’s delayed, the station wouldn’t count toward the 2013 rating, Riggins said.

Considered consolidation

Fire trucks from stations on Peake Road, Northside Drive and on Riverside Drive near Wimbish Road now respond to emergencies in the growing corridor along Bass Road near its intersection with Riverside Drive.

“There’s obviously a need in that area for us to have better fire protection and coverage,” Riggins said.

The other two stations -- to be located in west and east Bibb -- also are needed as part of a plan to keep response times low, he said.

Riggins said firefighters are as busy -- or busier -- responding to emergencies, from fires to medical emergencies, as they’ve ever been.

In the past, the fire department has considered consolidating stations in certain areas, but officials found that scenario would leave areas with gaps that they could not adequately protect.

Other stations would then have to shift their protection areas to cover those gaps, making the consolidation ultimately inefficient, Riggins said.

He said he hopes to find property in the area of Pineworth, Columbus and Fulton Mill roads for a new station in west Bibb that would open in either 2013 or 2014.

Land also will be needed in east Bibb near Jeffersonville Road, Sawyer Lake and Donnan Road for a station that would open in 2014 or 2015.

Riggins estimates remaining costs for building the northwest Bibb station will be about $1 million. Each of the other stations would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million. The remaining SPLOST funds would be used to furnish the stations and to buy fire trucks and equipment.

Both Macon and Bibb County residents would benefit from new fire stations and communications improvements, not just because of the coming ISO evaluation, Hart said, but because first responders’ ability to communicate can save lives.

“It could be your life or my life that they’re responding to,” he said.

Forty percent of the ISO rating criteria comes from the city and county’s water supply.

While Riggins said there’s no guarantee that passing the SPLOST would keep Macon’s ISO rating a 1 or that it would keep insurance premiums from increasing, he said the fire department is doing everything it can to keep the rating as favorable as possible for Macon and Bibb County.

“When people think about moving their families and businesses to Macon, we want them to look at it as a win-win,” he said.

By having cheaper insurance premiums, companies are more likely to move to Macon, helping create jobs, and attracting shoppers who would pay in to the SPLOST pool, Riggins said.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.