By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Voters in the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District will be asked in May to approve a five-year operating levy for the district.
The board voted 3-0 Thursday to ask district residents to renew the levy, which expires June 30. It is one of two levies and a tax base the district uses to fund day-to-day operations.
The levy would carry a tax rate of 61 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, costing $152 a year for the owner of a property assessed at $250,000.
The district’s other operating levy, at 59 cents per $1,000, was renewed by voters last May. The district’s tax base, established in 1997, is 29 cents per $1,000.
District administrator Frankie Petrick said the board normally would have put the levy up for a vote in last November’s general election to give it a second opportunity this May, should it have failed.
“But a levy has never not passed,” she told the board Thursday.
The district has a $1.27 million yearly budget, two administrators, two part-time employees and seven career firefighters who provide service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The district runs from south of Yachats, up the Yachats River and north to the Waldport city limits.
The board, which has been operating with three of five members, also has three positions up for election in May. They are Position 1 held by Cy Kauffman, a four-year term; Position 2, held by chair Katherine Guenther, a four-year term; and, the remaining two years of vacant Position 3. Kauffman has missed all board meetings since October but has not resigned.
The deadline to file with the Lincoln County clerk’s office is March 21.
In other business the board:
- Heard that the roof and walls of part of its $8.3 million fire station under construction north of Yachats should be up next week and all framing completed in three weeks. Once it is “dried in” contractors can start plumbing, electrical and other interior work.
- Discussed but did not come up with a plan to more widely disseminate agendas and minutes of its twice-monthly meetings. It currently posts agendas on the front door of the main fire station and at the Yachats Post Office two days before meetings. Board minutes are only available by request at the district office.
- Signed a yearly operational agreement with South Lincoln Ambulance. Under the agreement, the fire district provides manpower for emergency response in return for the nonprofit company providing the ambulance, equipment and supplies and handling billing and collections.