Castle Rock fire district seeks levy lid lift
Friday, October 10, 2008 6:52 PM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe Castle Rock-area Fire District 6 is again asking voters for more money to cover basic operating expenses — but officials have scaled back their proposal after two previous election defeats.
District officials say they simply can’t keep operating the county’s third busiest fire department with the same tax rate they’ve been using since 1966. Without an increase they say they’ll have to scale back service even as the number of calls in the area has increased 33 percent in the past 10 years.
“Our finances are getting to be in desperate straits,” said Commissioner Monte Martinsen. “We’re staring reduction of services straight in the face at our present rate and we can’t continue to do what we’ve been doing unless we get some help.”
“We’re trying to not just listen but act on public comment,” said Fire Chief Eric Koreis about the reduction in this ballot measure.
A levy lid lift request will go before voters in the November general election. It asks voters for permission to increase the district’s taxes from 43 cents per $1,000 in assessed value to 81 cents.
Previously, the district asked for the rate to be raised to 96 cents per $1,000. That request was voted down both in August of 2007 and March of 2008.
If approved, the new measure would increase taxes on a $150,000 home by $57 a year, from $64.50 to $121.50. That’s a 88 percent increase, but officials stress that the district has never increased rates in its 42-year history.
And, while authorized to tax $1 per $1,000 in 1966, officials chose instead to collect just 50 cents. A complicated state law that limits annual tax revenue increases to 1 percent each year has since reduced that rate to the current 43 cents per $1,000.
The additional money would boost the number of stipend-paid volunteers at the fire station each 24 hours, establish an equipment replacement fund and offset inflation.
In addition to scaling back the amount of the new tax, district officials also took two long-term projects — planning for a second fire station and a new vehicle — off the table. They also sold an ambulance, scrapped an order for new two-way radios and are considering selling a fire truck.
“People understand and think we need a new fire station, but they don’t want to pay for right now, and we understand that,” Koreis said. The district still hopes to build a second station in the future but for now, “we’re trying to very carefully listen to the public and just provide the service that they want.”
Without increased funding emergency calls will continue to go unanswered due to staffing shortages and other fire districts may need to respond to calls when Castle Rock crews are busy, Koreis wrote in a press release about the request. As an absolute last resort, officials also may need to consider scaling back the fire station’s 24-hour service, he wrote.
In addition, fire officials said a decrease in fire district coverage likely would increase residents home insurance rates.
“We’re going to end up paying more in increased insurance costs than the cost of this levy,” Martinsen said. “And I don’t think everyone understands that.”
District officials say the ballot language for the lid levy lift may be confusing to voters and want to be clear about what they’re asking.
It can appear that they’re asking to increase taxes each year. In reality, they’re asking permission to keep the tax rate at 81 cents per $1,000 each to keep it from slowing decreasing just as the 50 cents decreased to 43 cents. If approved, the most the district could levy and collect is 81 cents per $1,000.
The measure needs a simple majority, 50 percent plus one, to pass.
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