The Seal Rock Fire District covers 16.5 square miles from the Bayshore community to Ona Beach and five miles inland on North Bayview and North Beaver Creek roads and has more than 6,000 residents. (Garret Jaros/Lincoln Chronicle)By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
SEAL ROCK — To keep pace with rising personnel costs, the Seal Rock Fire District is asking voters to increase an existing property tax levy.
The district cites unfunded mandates from the state for payroll and “other categories across the board,” escalating contributions to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System and a restructuring of firefighter duties to help manage volunteers as reasons for the increase.
The district is asking voters to increase a five-year firefighter levy by 12 cents to 52 cents per $1,000 assessed property value in the May 19 primary election.
Current levies for Seal Rock include a five-year 25 cent equipment levy passed in November 2024, a five-year 20 cent chief’s levy that expires in 2030, and the current 40 cent firefighter levy.
Seal Rock has a permanent tax base of 46 cents per $1,000 assessed property value and the three current levies adding up to 85 cents per $1,000 for a total of $1.31. That means the owner of property assessed at $250,000 currently pays $327 a year for fire services.
If approved, the 12 cent increase would add $30 to the yearly tax bill of someone’s property assessed at $250,000.
Ewing“This current five-year levy is finished at end of 2027,” said Seal Rock Fire Chief Will Ewing. “So we’re trying to get ahead of the game and not walk us into a last minute ‘Please help us’ kind of thing.”
The Lincoln County clerk mailed ballots to 2,468 registered voters in the district. Voters can either mail their ballot – postage is pre-paid – by 5 p.m. Tuesday May 19 or drop them in the special ballot collection box at seven city halls around the county or the county courthouse in Newport by 8 p.m. May 19.
“It’s a small increase,” Ewing said. “We haven’t had a price increase since the firefighter levy was adopted years ago, so we haven’t been able to give any cost of living raises or enhance our staffing levels. And we don’t really have to with 40-plus volunteers.”
The district has an annual operating budget of $850,000, three full-time paid positions and 45 volunteers. One of the full-time positions is held by a permanent firefighter and the district pays six “floater” firefighters to fill 48-hour shifts. Seal Rock responded to 696 alarms, including mutual aid, in 2025.
“So we give economic opportunities to more than just three people,” Ewing said. “It helps with backfilling when someone is sick and my duty officer pool is seven people that I can choose from to fill the spots.”
Because it now has so many volunteers, the Seal Rock Fire Department now uses portion of a paid position to help oversee their training and scheduling. But while one fulltime position overseeing the training and managing of volunteers has transformed into more of a salaried position, the others have been paid at a rate of $20 an hour since Ewing’s tenure began in 2021, he said.
With the increase in volunteers from less than a handful when Ewing came on board to what it is now, requires paid staff to take on more supervisory, organizational and tactical responsibilities, which includes always having a shift manager on duty.
“We really like to get a double set of staffing there so we can go two different directions with leadership at the same time,” Ewing said. “So it’s an enhancement of our staffing capabilities as well as, it’s just not all going for paychecks.”
The district can now cover shifts with enough firefighters to respond with multiple trained personnel to cover two or more separate incidents, according to the district.
Ewing estimates the fire district, which covers 16.5 square-miles from the Bayshore community to Ona Beach and five miles inland on North Bayview and North Beaver Creek roads, has more than 6,000 residents.
Seal Rock Fire District was established in 1962. The main station in Seal Rock was built in 1968 and equipped with two fire trucks. The Bayshore station was constructed in 1980 primarily by fire department volunteers. The district has three fire engines, a water tender, two brush trucks that serve as rescues and two squad vehicles.
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
Nobody likes more taxes, but this levy is a good investment for residents. The Seal Rock Fire District is a well run organization and efficient with its funds.
The strategy of going with a largely volunteer responding staff was a bold move when implemented by Chief Will Ewing years ago. It has turned out to be a wise decision in the face of the reality of running a rural fire district. The key is solid management, and it seems like the plans for this levy is to leverage the capital so that there is a good “bang for the buck” to get more quality volunteers properly managed by good leaders. Best wishes for continuing success with the district
For full disclosure, I was a former board member for the district. I did not agree with every specific decision, but overall I did appreciate the efficient strategy and genuine efforts of the 911 leadership and staff.