Judge Orders Change to Ambulance District Proposition Title and Wording

A lawsuit brought by O'Fallon's Arnie (A.C.) Dienoff challenging his removal from the candidate list for the St. Charles County Ambulance District Board included two counts that will change the appearance of the District's tax increase request on the April 2 ballot.

The tax increase, which was previously named "Proposition Lifesavers" as submitted by the ambulance board, will be called simply "Proposition E."

As it was written, Circuit Court Judge Ted House said that the language was not  "a fair, impartial summary, but instead makes arguments in favor of the proposal."

The wording included statements that the population of St. Charles County is growing and aging, that the tax increase would prevent delays in response times to 911 calls and that the tax increase would be the first since the district's inception more than 38 years ago.

In his Feb. 25 judgement, House ordered the wording changed to:

The St. Charles County Ambulance District serves all of the municipalities and unincorporated areas of St. Charles County by providing paramedic-staffed ambulances that respond to emergency medical needs. Shall the Board of Directors of the St. Charles County Ambulance District be authorized to levy an additional general tax of not more than eleven cents per one hundred dollars assessed valuation, the revenues from which shall be deposited in the general fund?