By Kelli Ainsworth

The city of Katy will hold its first bond referendum in six years on Nov. 4. Voters will be asked to approve a bond totaling $5 million to expand the city's fire services.

If the bond wins approval, $3.4 million will go toward building a new fire station on Kingsland Boulevard, $1 million will go toward a new fire truck, and $600,00 will be earmarked for a training tower and equipment, Katy's City Administrator Byron Hebert said.

Katy's existing fire station is located on Avenue D, north of I-10. However, the city has long been in need of a fire station to the south, Hebert said.

"We really need to have a fire station close to the commercial [properties] south of the freeway," Hebert said. "We need to get a station there to make sure we can take care of the new hotels that are coming in, the current hotels that are there, the restaurants, the H-E-B and the [Katy Mills Mall]."

The bond is not expected to lead to a tax increase, Hebert said. The city is in the second year of its initiative to lower taxes by two cents per year over a five-year period.

"We're going to continue that for the next few years. We don't foresee a problem with taxes," Hebert said.

Rufus Summers, interim fire chief with the Katy Fire Department, said the second fire station will help the department deal with population growth and the increased number of calls that has come with it. The station could include additions that enhance the department's training capabilities, he said.

The fire department successfully maintained its ISO rating of 2 after the 2013 audit at the end of last year, but a lack of personnel to man the station's trucks is a potential threat for a downgrade in future audits. The new station is tied to a reorganization of the department from a part-time force to a full-time force supplemented by volunteers, city officials said.

"In the long range, we don't want to build our department around an ISO score but to provide adequate fire protection and EMS services to all of our residents," Councilman Chuck Brawner said.

This is the first time the city of Katy has called a bond since 2008. Previous bonds have been used to build the city's courthouse and public library.