Elections 2010 Close window   Today's Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010  Proposition Information   Proposition Y  --  $10.7 million bond issue Proposition Name: Proposition Y  --  $10.7 million bond issue Election Type: General Jurisdiction County: St. Louis County State: Missouri Fire: Northeast Ballot Description: Shall the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District of St. Louis County, Missouri, incur an indebtedness of said District in the amount of Ten Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($10,700,000) and issue general obligation bonds of said District in evidence thereof in order to or for the purchase and clearing of land or real estate, the construction, equipment, and maintenance of administration buildings, fire and ambulance stations, garages and houses, and the purchase of ambulances, fire trucks, emergency medical service equipment, paramedical equipment, fire protection equipment and fire-fighting apparatus and auxiliary equipment for said District? Story: The district wants voters to authorize a $10.7 million bond issue to build a new firehouse and ambulance station. The money also would also pay for new ambulances, fire trucks and other equipment.   The proposal requires a four-sevenths favorable majority to pass. It is the same proposal that district voters rejected April 8 and on Aug. 5. The district has few details about the bond issue. “You don't spend money before the bond issue is authorized,” Elbert Walton, attorney for the district, has said. “Once the bonds are authorized, the district gets the experts — financial, bond, legal — all people who can assist the directors and tell them exactly what is needed,” he said.   The district said it would not have to raise taxes to retire the bonds. Walton could not say whether the district would have to extend its tax rate for debt service to retire these bonds.   Joseph Washington, the board president, and Robert Edwards, the board secretary-treasure, voted to put the bond issue on the ballot. Bob Lee, the other board member, opposed the move each time the directors put the proposal on the ballot.   Lee said the district needs a new firehouse. “We need to be accountable to the public about how we spend money,” he has said. “The district must be willing to share the information with the public.”   Walton said the district follows state law in handling its spending.   Walton said the large voter turnout that officials anticipate in November encouraged supporters to try to pass the bond issue for the third time.