Evening star., 1951-10-14
Prince Georges
District 10 Vote
On Fire Taxes
Referendum Slated
For Three Precincts
On Legislative Move


departments.
Registered voters in the district
4th, 5th and 7th precincts will b,
eligible to ballot in the referendum
set up by an act Of the 1851 Gen
eral Assembly.
Polls will be open from Z am
% z pm. atsthe j. Enos Ray Schoo
On New, Hampshire avenue at Ra,
road In Takoma Park for the 4ti
precinct. and in Mount Rainie,
High School, Thirtieth street ant
Queens Chapel road, for the 5tl
apd 7th precincts.
Would Be Divided Six Ways.
sIf the tax is approved, propert.
owners in the three precincts woult
pay special fire levy of 10 cent
one each $100 of assessed valua
ton, proceeds of which would b.
divided among six municipal vol
unteer fire departments-25 pc
cent each to Mount Rainier, Ia.
koma Park and Brentwood, 10 pc
cent each to Hyattsville and Col
lege Park and S per cent to River
dale.
At present, the only fire ia,
paid by the unincorporated resi-.
dents of the 17th district is the
general 2-cent levy paid by al
county property owners, from
which every volunteer fire de-
partment located in the county is
paid fiat $1.400 a year. regard
less of it's size.
The 9Th precinct. which includes
the heavily-populated, unincorpo.
rated Langley Park area, will not
vote Tuesday, because of a ruling
by Prince Georges Circuit Court
and will not pay the special fire
tax if it is approved.
Precincts Subdivided.
Judge Charles w. Marbury last
week excluded the 9Th precinct
because the act of the legislature
included only the 4th and 5tt
precincts. which were the only
unincorporated precincts in the
district when the bill was put be-
fore the lawmakers last winter.
The County Board of Election
Supervisors. in two separate
moves last spring, added the 9Th
and 7th precincts to the district
by subdividing the 4th and 5th
Judge Marbury held that the 9th
had been added before the bill
was signed by Gov. McKeldin and
therefore could not be part of the
referendum. Since the 7th was
added after the bill became law
Judge Marbury ruled that il
should be included.
Point to Area Covered.
Proponents of the special tax
contend, however, that the unin-
corporated residents should have
no complaint about a few Takoma
Park people voting. The Takoms
Park fire department answers
both first and second calls in the
unincorporated area, they point
out, even though it does not re-
ceive the annual $1,400 grant
from the general Prince Georges
County fire tax because it is sit
uated in Montgomery County.
With the 9Th precinct ex.
cluded, Mayor Herbert Reichelt
of Mount Rainier, who wrote the
bill and has been leading the fight
for approval of the tax, said the
levy would produce something
under $4,000 a year in revenues
Porter Beale, of 2008 Tucker
man street, Green Meadows, one
of the opponents. estimates the
tax will produce annual revenues
of between $4,000 and 100000.
Mayor Reichelt said the people
of the unincorporated areas shoule
pay their share for the fire pro-
lection they receive from the
towns. He said it costs the six
towns involved from $4,000 tt
$4,000 a year to operate theil
fire departments for which the
municipal residents pay specia
taxes of 18 cents in Takoma Park
Is in Mount Rainier, 13 in HyattS-
vile, and 10 in Brentwood, River.
dale and College Park.
New Department Cited.
E. Mr.. Beale, an officer of the
Green Meadows-Brookside Manor
Citizens Association. said hi
association, the citizens associa'
tioffs of Adelphi and Lewisdal'
ana The newly organized Chillum.
Ade1phia Volunteer Fire Depart
ment are opposing the tax.
Mr.. Beale said their new de-
partment, organized last June, twt
months after the governor signee
the referendum bill, will be abl'
to protect the unincorporated ares
Of the district.
Mr.. Reichelt said 1t will tax,
two to five years for the new com
pany to reach a standard com.
parable to the six municipal de-
partments.
Amendment Planned.
At the time hearings were helc
on the bill and opponents told O
their plans to organize a fire de
partment. Mr.. Reichelt said h,
prepared an amendment to pro
vide that when a company wa
organized and operating in tn
unincorporated area, it would au
tomatically begin receiving SO pc
cent of the special tax revenue
with the other SO per cent goin,
equally to Mount Rainier and Ta
koma Park. And although tn
amendment was rejected by tn
legislature, Mr.. Reichelt added, h
and other town officials are still
willing to attempt to have the lay
changed when the new depart
ment is operating.
Another argument for the tax
the mayor said, is that the unin
corporated residents now are get
ting low fire insurance rates base,
g.. ~, YorofonfioY, oHarcad khovr. I.