By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
WALDPORT – The Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District believes it gave residents in the district a break four years ago, so now it’s asking for help in return.
The district’s 3,242 voters are being asked in the Nov. 5 general election to approve a 60 cent increase to an operations levy of $1.27 that has been the same since it was approved in 2016.
Voters can either mail their ballot – postage is pre-paid – by 5 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 5 or put them in the special ballot collection box at Waldport city hall, any other city hall in the county or the county courthouse in Newport by 8 p.m. Nov. 5.
Ideally, the district should have asked voters for a small increase in 2020 and another one this fall to keep pace with rising costs, say board member Jon MacCulloch and fire chief Jamie Mason.
But four years ago the community was in the throes of the Covid pandemic, Mason told YachatsNews, “… and we felt the community could not handle that. Now we’re trying to get back on track like everyone else.”
If approved, the higher property taxes would be used to make up for inflation, increased operating costs and to rebuild the district’s financial reserves. The request follows a June budget process where the board authorized seeking a $300,000 loan for when it expected to run short of operations money between August and November, when property taxes begin arriving.
The fire district has a permanent tax rate of 82 cents per $1,000 assessed property value and a second, small operations levy of 35 cents per $1,000. Combined, the tax base and two levies cost the owner of property assessed at $250,000 about $610 a year for fire and medical emergency services.
If approved, the 60 cent increase would add $150 a year onto that bill – for a total of $760 — starting in July 2025.
MacCulloch says the district’s costs in various categories such as personnel, utilities and fuel have risen anywhere from 60 percent to 200 percent over the last 10 years. Part of the increase in personnel costs was due to the district’s board voting in 2022 to hire two more firefighters – it now has six total — after its personnel sharing agreement with the Seal Rock Fire Department fell apart and resulted in many emergency calls being answered by one firefighter on an engine. The board and firefighters said that was unsafe.
“The costs of services and materials have far outstripped our ability to keep up,” MacCulloch said, forcing the district to dip into its reserves the past few years. “Without state or federal help, this levy request is the only method to continue to provide the services that everyone has come to expect.”
If approved, the increased levy would add about $330,000 the first year and a bit more than that each of the next four years.
The fire board and Mason would use the additional money to keep up with rising costs, replenish reserves in its budget and start putting money aside for capital projects like station repairs and improvements and equipment.
Mason and the board point to the fact that in the past four years the district has replaced all but its main “first out” engine with new or upgraded equipment through grants and trades, amounting to nearly $1 million that it didn’t have to request from local taxpayers.
“This crew of people is working constantly to find equipment grants so we won’t have to go ask the voters for that money,” MacCulloch said.
The district sent information postcards about the levy to voters and has held two open houses and a coffee to help explain its request.
But it’s also fighting misinformation about the cost of the levy by former board member Todd Holt, who paid for an opposition statement in the Lincoln County voters pamphlet. Holt was wrong when he wrote the levy increase would be based on a property’s market value. The cost of all levies are based on assessed values, which in Lincoln County are 52 percent of market values.
Holt, who voted with other board members in 2022 to hire more firefighters, was recalled from the board in June 2022 after collaborating unsuccessfully with two other board members and some of the Seal Rock fire district board to remove Mason as chief.
MacCulloch says that’s just an unnecessary distraction and that the department has made great strides since board turmoil from 2021-22.
“When people call 9-1-1 they just want someone to show up,” he said. “But 70-80 percent of our calls are medical calls. We don’t charge for that and never will. But that’s part of our costs. We’re first responders – always have been and always will be.”