ROWAN COUNTY — Three fire departments in the county will be holding public hearings in April and May to receive public comments on potential tax increases in their districts.

Millers Ferry, Rockwell Rural and Rowan-Iredell fire departments have scheduled hearings that will be held at each individual station and are open to the public.

The largest proposed tax increase is Millers Ferry, which is proposing to raise the property tax from $0.0875 to $0.11. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on May 13 at the Dukeville station, located at 2650 Long Ferry Rd. The hearing will be combined with the department’s scheduled annual meeting.

Millers Ferry Fire Chief Josh Fox said that the increased revenue would be utilized to hire more staff for the department. With fire departments seeing an increase in the amount of calls received every year, Fox said that the tax increase would help the station keep up.

The proposed increase for Rowan-Iredell is $0.06 to $0.082. That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April 8 at the station, located at 5757 Chenault Rd. 

The proposed increase for Rockwell Rural is $0.09 to $0.09995, and the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on April 2 at the Link station, located at 320 Link St.

Rockwell Rural Fire Chief Alan Shinn said that the increased revenue would be used to help pay for staffing due to an increase in call volume and lowered volunteer turnout in recent years. Shinn said the increase would also help the station maintain their trucks and pay for fuel, with costs rising due to inflation.

For reference, the Rockwell Rural proposed increase would result in a change of $20 annually for a home valued at $200,000. Millers Ferry’s proposed change would result in an increase of $45 for a home valued at the same amount, while Rowan-Iredell would result in an increase of $44.

County Manager Aaron Church said that once the public hearings are held by each of the fire departments, the respective districts’ fire commissioners will vote on whether or not the tax increase should be recommended to the county. If the recommendation is approved, the property tax increase would go to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, who would have the final say on implementation.