As it lays out budget schedule, Yachats Fire board says November levy may be close — minus expiring levy — to one rejected last year

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

YACHATS – A proposed new tax levy by the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District will likely be similar in size to the $1.59 per $1,000 rate that voters rejected last November – but it just won’t have the same effect on property owners’ wallets.

A proposed levy with a $1.59 tax rate was soundly defeated last November after general concerns over district finances, management and staffing of South Lincoln Ambulance. The district already has smaller, voter-approved levies of 59 cents and 61 cents per $1,000 assessed property value and a permanent tax base of 28 cents to fund its month-to-month operations.

The fire district’s board decided last month to not seek a new tax levy in May and instead to try again in November. It has until late August to determine the amount.

During a meeting Monday, board members began sketching out its schedule for budget deliberations this spring – which led to a short discussion about a possible levy amount for November.

Should voters approve a levy in November it wouldn’t be implemented until 2023 – and after the expiration of the district’s 59 cent levy. Because of that, the net rate increase to taxpayers would be $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

That means a tax bill on property valued at $300,000 that would have increased by $477 last November, would see a net increase of $300 if voters approve a $1.59 levy once the 59 cent levy expires.

Board member Drew Tracy said his crunching of budget numbers shows that the district needs a levy – after the 59 cent one expires – of $1.52 to $1.59 per $1,000 to continue current operations. The levy could also allow hiring a seventh firefighter to hold down overtime, replenish a nearly bare equipment replacement fund, and end four years of bank borrowing to fund months of operations until property taxes arrive each fall.

The question, Tracy told other board members, is if $1.59 “is a number that people don’t want to see again.”

Board member Ed Hallahan said whether the district asks for $1.52 or $1.59 “the number is still a bare bones number. If it doesn’t pass, we’re looking at major cuts.”

But Tracy cautioned against using threats to help pass the levy or “push the levy down peoples’ throats.”

“What people have to realize in this community is if you want good services, you have to pay for it,” Tracy said.

But the board did not discuss – or has it scheduled one — its staffing relationship with the nonprofit ambulance service, which is controlled by the district’s two administrators, Frankie Petrick and Shelby Knife. The fire district is the only one in Lincoln County that has the fire department’s firefighters staff an ambulance service. The nonprofit pays $150 a month rent and has purchased office computers, radios and other equipment for the district and given it small grants.

The levy discussion came as the board and Petrick determined a meeting schedule for the budget committee, which it wants to take a closer look at district finances and ways to help increase revenue or trim expenses, that are already bare bones. It settled on meetings April 25 and May 23 before formal approval by the board June 27.

The district’s 2021-22 operating budget is $1.66 million. For the first time in at least four years it is expected to end the fiscal year with a small positive balance because of the sale of its former station in downtown Yachats that was used to pay off a $393,500 loan it had taken out to help fund operations.

But because the levy failed last November and the district is not seeking one in May, it expects to have to borrow again during the 2022-23 fiscal year to make ends meet.

Tracy asked other board members if the district should “test the waters” on a levy amount with the five-member budget committee, which most of the past four years has not weighed in much on district operations or direction. It also decided to send a letter to a Yachats resident who has written two letters critical of the district’s finances to encourage her to apply for an opening on the budget committee.