Lancaster County commissioners approve petition to move part of Bennett area into Southeast Rural Fire District

Lancaster County commissioners voted March 3 to approve a petition to move part of the Bennett Rural Fire District into the Southeast Rural Fire District, a change commissioners said would put those households within a closer emergency-response footprint.

The action came as a public-hearing action item that followed a Feb. 24 hearing. The board noted it had received emails after the hearing; those communications were forwarded to county counsel and were not considered for the vote. Commissioners said the petition included roughly 60 households and that petition signatures and shorter response times from Southeast supported approval. Several members emphasized the decision was about geographic response time, not a criticism of volunteer firefighters in Bennett.

Board members also discussed potential fiscal effects. One commissioner described the change as likely to produce a “significant valuation change” for the Bennett district, and commissioners asked whether an effective date at the end of the tax year would be administratively preferable. The county attorney was asked to review relevant statutory deadlines and confirm whether an end-of-year effective date is allowable; commissioners repeatedly characterized an end-of-tax-year effective date as their expectation pending counsel’s review.

The board called the roll and approved the annexation petition. The clerk recorded the motion as carried. No further testimony was accepted at the meeting; the public-hearing record from Feb. 24 remains the formal evidence for the annexation.