WALDPORT – Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue will ask voters to increase one of its two operating levies by 10 cents per $1,000 assessed property value in the November general election.
The district’s board voted unanimously Thursday night to ask voters to replace a 10-year old levy of 25 cents per $1,000 assessed value with a 35 cent levy. The current levy expires next June; the new levy would be for five years.
The deadline for notifying Lincoln County elections officials to get on the Nov. 8 ballot is Friday.
The current levy generates a little over $100,000 a year and has been directed to upgrading existing or buying new equipment. Because of an aggressive repair, replacement and exchange program the past two years, Chief Jamie Mason suggested the new levy be used differently – to help keep six firefighters on staff, to maintain volunteer programs, and to continue to upgrade and purchase equipment.
The proposed 35 cent levy would generate an estimated $158,600 its first year and $178,500 in its fifth year.
The 25 cent levy has been the same for 10 years, as costs and inflation ate into its buying power.
The district board is also in negotiations with its firefighters union on a new contract as its pay levels have fallen behind other coastal districts who have been aggressively raising salaries to recruit and retain hard-to-find personnel.
The district’s overall property tax rate is $2.34 per $1,000 assessed value and consists of the current 25 cent levy, a $1.27 general operating levy and a 82 cent permanent tax base.
That means the owner of property assessed at $300,000 is paying $702 a year to the fire district. The proposed increase would add $30 a year to that – if voters approve Nov. 8.
During a workshop meeting last week, Mason told the board that the district is “operating on funds appropriate for 2012, not 2022.” While the district is in sound financial shape now, he said, expected firefighter pay increases, rising costs and an inflation rate of 8-10 percent will result in problems in 2-3 years.
He urged the board to think of a budget 2-3-4 years from now.
During that workshop, board member Kevin Battles argued for keeping the 25 cent levy, worried that an increase could jeopardize an expected bond vote in 2-3 years to build a new main fire station.
But after listening to an update on union negotiations and comments from other board members Thursday night, Battles said he sees the need to ask voters for an increase.
“I get it. I understand it. I will go along with it,” he said. “I think it’s a necessity.”
Board member Jon MacCulloch said the district needed to increase its operating levies in increments, unlike the Yachats Rural Fire District to the south which is asking voters for a $1 per $1,000 increase in November after not increasing its levies for more than a dozen years. Yachats says it will lay off three of its six firefighters and give up its district-subsidized ambulance service if the levy fails – as it did last November.
“Yes, we are asking for more money,” MacCulloch said. “But there have been increased services and (insurance) savings that we’re now providing.”