Yachats Fire District asking voters to renew a five-year operations levy in May 19 primary election

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

YACHATS – To maintain current staffing and service levels into the not-too-distant future, the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District is asking taxpayers to renew one of its two operating levies in the May 19 primary election.

The levy, which expires in June 2027, accounts for approximately 63 percent of the district’s property tax revenue and makes possible the employment of six full-time firefighters and part-time replacements to fill for vacations and personal leave.

The five-year, $1.59 per $1,000 assessed property value levy also supports purchasing and maintaining firefighter equipment and facilities, expanding the volunteer program and funding general operations including emergency medical services.

The levy was last approved in November 2022 when the fire district sought and won voter approval of a $1 per $1,000 increase.

In addition to the $1.59 levy, Yachats has a permanent tax base of 29 cents per $1,000 assessed property value and a five-year 61 cent levy that expires in 2028. For a property with an assessed value of $250,000, the base rate and combined levies amount to approximately $622 in property taxes a year.

The district also has a voter approved 30-year bond for up to $7.7 million – which can’t be used for operating expenses — used to build the new fire station. The bond is also paid through property taxes, with a 2018 tax rate of 70 cents per $1,000 assessed value, which brings the tax total for property assessed at $250,000 to approximately $797 a year.

Fire board president Doug Myers said the district did not need to ask for a small increase in the proposed levy because it has fulfilled its goal in 2022 of catching up with inflation and allowing the district to build up equipment reserves.

“Our reserves, which were down to about $30,000, are now at $391,000,” Myers said. “National fire standards for departments recommend apparatus should be replaced at about 25 years. But last year OSHA (Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division) started making some noise that they were going to adopt that standard. And for a lot of departments, including Yachats, that would have crushed us. Especially when we didn’t have reserves to upgrade apparatus.”

A new fire truck costs $700,000, while good used ones range from $200,000 to $300,000, Myers said, which is why the district is fulfilling its promise to voters to build those reserves.

The Lincoln County clerk has mailed ballots to 2,389 registered voters in the fire district. Voters can either mail their ballot – postage is pre-paid – by 5 p.m. May 19 or drop them in the special ballot collection box at seven city halls or the Lincoln County courthouse in Newport by 8 p.m. May 19.

“The loss of this levy would reduce the volunteer program, decrease career staffing and increase emergency response times,” according to the district’s statement in the county voters’ pamphlet. “In the absence of levy funding, the district may be left with only one career firefighter on duty per 48-hour shift to respond to fire, medical and rescue calls.”

The cost of providing services continues to rise faster than revenue and calls for service continue to increase each year, according to the statement, making the 95 percent of the district’s income provided by property taxes more important than ever.

Next year’s operating budget is estimated to be about $3.2 million. The district responded to 864 calls for service in 2025.  Its coverage area extends from just south of Yachats to the southern Waldport boundary and approximately 10 miles up the Yachats River Valley. The district also has mutual aid agreements with Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue and Seal Rock Fire District, which can extend its area of operations.

The fire district was formed in 1949 but traces its roots back to a volunteer brigade initiated in 1925. Today it serves an estimated 2,500 people. Its new fire station was built in 2019.

Myers said that while the district is on solid financial footing for now, that could change in the next few years if ever-increasing costs do not begin to level out.

“With the recent leadership change, I am very confident with the direction the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District is taking,” Myers said “It’s planning for long term so the citizens don’t have any big surprises down the road. We’re trying to maintain all of the services we currently provide and looking hard at ambulance transport, how we can solve that.

“So we’re trying to make sure that the citizens that support us, and we’re very grateful for that, have a stable fire department that is planning for the future.”

• 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]