STRAFFORD, Mo.– With election day this coming Tuesday, April 5, some area fire departments are hoping voters will approve sending more money their way.

Strafford Fire Department is one such department. They’re proposing an $8 million bond.

Strafford Fire Department started out with just volunteers. In 2009, it moved to a full-time career station. But as the department grew, strafford realized they needed more space and more people.”

“We’ve pretty much doubled our call volume since we began career in 2009,” Battalion Chief Brian Ferguson said.

Ferguson has been with Strafford for 13 years.

“Obviously, the area has gotten a lot bigger,” Ferguson said. “I mean, things of their stuff here, that wasn’t it was all farmland when I first started here. And now it’s full of subdivisions and it’s like that all over Greene and Christian County. I mean, stuff just blowing up everywhere.”

To keep up with the growth, Strafford Fire is proposing an $8 million bond. If approved, a home assessed at $140,000 would see a roughly $75 tax increase.

“The main focus of the bond is to update and renovate the station two house here,” Chief Jacob Agee said. “The station was built in 1990 so getting more amenities for the firefighters and the crew. It’s also going to update our 1992 ladder truck at 65-foot with the growth and industrial parks and everything we’ve got to update to at least a 100-foot ladder.”

The bond also includes adding another station on the south side of the city.

“We have one crossing, so if a trains coming through we’re going to be delayed to get to that side of the tracks,” Agee said. “So having a station on that side will really speed things up with response times.”

Strafford hopes this bond will also help maintain the ISO rating and with the changes, the insurance safety office rating will improve.