Ranch residents to vote on fire levy

Black Butte Ranch Fire Chief Ed Sherrell is appealing to registered voters in the Black Butte Rural Fire Protection District to return their vote-by-mail ballots on a five-year levy by the March 14 deadline.

“While we hope voters will support this critical levy, we urge all voters to return their ballots by the closing date,” Chief Sherrell said. “Because this is a fiscal issue, this election requires a ‘double majority’ vote. Half of the registered voters must vote and the levy must be approved by at least half of those voting. Even if more than half of those voting approve the levy but less than half of the voters return their ballots, the levy will fail.”

Just over 300 registered voters are in the special district.

The ballot calls for a five-year levy to fund needed district operations, scholarships for student volunteers, support for the district’s fire equipment reserve fund, and perhaps preventing the layoff of one firefighter, according to Chief Sherrell.

The levy calls for 90 cents per $1,000 of taxable property a year for a five-year operating levy. For a $400,000 home, that would cost about $360.

Chief Sherrell noted that while the fire district has always been treated well by the voters, a budget election always gets him concerned.

“Right now, our revenues can only increase by 3 percent, according to Oregon law, and our tax base is not growing,” Sherrell explained. “At the same time, our overhead costs are going way and way up. From the 2002- 2003 year to the present, our costs are up 30 percent.”

The district found itself in a critical condition several years ago when Oregon voters approved Measure 50. At that time, the district tax rate was rolled back two years to a budget year when by chance, the district had approved a lower than normal budget with no major purchases and other expenses. That action gave the district an extremely low tax rate as a base from which the limited annual three percent increase could be made.

Besides maintaining current services, the approved new levy would provide for one additional firefighter, Sherrell explained.

“As we retain our career firefighters, they receive more vacation and staffing then becomes an issue,” he said.

“The district’s scholarship program places 10 students on duty at no salary, but they do receive a scholarship for tuition and books,” the chief explained. “Students live on site and are assigned a shift. They receive training along with our career staff, plus they receive on-the-job experience. We need these students. I can’t ask an 80-year-old retired resident to grab a hose.”