On April 1, 2025, Harvard, Illinois voters delivered a decisive victory for their local fire protection district, approving a crucial referendum that will provide an estimated $500,000 annually in additional funding. The measure passed with 54.46% of voters supporting the initiative, marking a significant win for first responder advocacy in suburban Chicagoland communities.
About the proposal – What was won?
In the latest round of municipal elections, Harvard, Illinois, voters approved a firefighting referendum that had been carefully crafted to address the district’s most pressing needs. The measure passed by a comfortable margin and will provide additional funding earmarked specifically for equipment upgrades, staffing increases, and infrastructure improvements.
What makes this victory particularly meaningful is that a similar measure had been presented to voters in March 2024, but it was rejected by a margin of 58% to 42%. The previous referendum sought a slightly higher increase of 0.17%, but the district’s leadership learned from that defeat. This time around, they reduced the requested increase to 0.15%, which translates to approximately $50-75 per year in additional taxes for most Harvard homeowners.
In addition, this year’s campaign also included a more comprehensive community outreach effort, utilizing social media to showcase the department’s daily operations and emergency efforts.
According to Fire Chief John Kimmel and Board President Scott Logan, increasing community engagement enabled voters to better understand the critical nature of a firefighter’s work. “We have had quite a few calls — structure fires, grass fires, and rescue calls — and getting information out on Facebook has had a big impact,” Logan noted. The district averages three calls per day, with 80-85% being medical emergencies and 15% involving crashes, structure fires, or grass fires.
Why Harvard, IL (and the results) matter
Harvard is a suburban community in McHenry County, part of the broader Chicagoland metropolitan area. Its demographics and public service structure mirror many small cities across the Midwest, making it a regional bellwether for first responder funding initiatives. The community represents the challenges facing countless suburban fire departments nationwide: aging equipment, staffing shortages, and the evolving demands of modern emergency preparedness.
The Harvard Fire Protection District operates from a single station with just two to three firefighters, EMTs, or paramedics on shift at any given time. Like many smaller departments, they rely heavily on mutual aid agreements with surrounding districts, often requesting assistance more frequently than they can reciprocate. These dynamics underscore the resource constraints that plague suburban fire services.
The success of this year’s referendum poses a ray of hope for neighboring suburban communities. The local change in sentiment shows that voters are now more aware of the impact of fire departments and the consequences that poor funding carries for public safety – enough that they are willing to invest their own resources in supporting first responders.
Regional Implications
McHenry County and neighboring areas have struggled with volunteer firefighter shortages and aging equipment. These challenges, mirrored across the rural and suburban Midwest, largely stem from a combination of increased costs of living and a progressive shift in the educational requirements and complexities of a first responder’s work.
As Chief Kimmel explained, “Early on, firefighters were the carpenters and the plumbers who lived in town.” Nowadays, the dedicated training and resources required for a new firefighter make it impossible to rely on part-time volunteers.
Our hope? The Harvard referendum’s success becomes a catalyst for similar initiatives throughout the region. A successful ballot measure in a suburban city like Harvard could influence other municipalities to explore similar funding avenues. The documented success of the district’s social media strategy provides a roadmap for other departments seeking voter approval for necessary funding increases.
The outcome may also prompt discussions at the county or state level about standardized support for fire services. When individual districts struggle to maintain adequate staffing and equipment, regional coordination and state-level support become increasingly important considerations for policymakers.
Role of the Firefighters and EMS Fund
The Firefighters and EMS Fund considers securing appropriate funding for firefighters as one of its top priorities. Consistently, we have seen that one of the most effective ways to push for this is through local referenda. In this sense, Harvard’s victory represents exactly the kind of community-backed support for first responders that the Fund tracks and advocates for.
This win is part of a larger trend we’ve been monitoring for a while: communities are increasingly recognizing the critical importance of investing in their fire and emergency medical services.
The Harvard victory also highlights the importance of persistence and adaptation. After their 2024 defeat, the department was able to adjust its approach and achieve victory this year. What better way to put temporary setbacks into perspective!
Every successful referendum like this one creates momentum for other communities facing similar challenges. By staying involved in local politics, supporting transparency in emergency services operations, and advocating for adequate funding, citizens can help achieve similar successes in their own communities.
