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The measure would double the property tax levy in order to hire six additional firefighter-paramedics, the district's fire chief says, but its failure could lead to reduced emergency response, the possible loss of ambulance service and higher home insurance premiums.
In Cottage Grove, a woman recently spent two hours waiting for an ambulance to take her to the hospital after a fall, according to South Lane County Fire & Rescue.
She was lying “on the floor for two hours waiting for us to get there because we had nobody to respond,” South Lane Fire Chief John Wooten said in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield, adding that the longer someone remains on the ground after a fall, the more severe their injuries can become.
Wooten said the incident reflects how understaffed the department is due to a lack of funding, noting that emergency calls often overlap, leaving no units available to respond or insufficient staff on hand.
“Every day, we’re down to nobody available,” he said. When that happens, “we have to either call for units to come from other jurisdictions or wait,” but with “everybody getting busier, we’re usually unable to get ambulances to come from out of our area.”
In another recent incident, South Lane firefighter-paramedic Amanda Huckins said a firefighter arrived at a house fire near Creswell alone and spent about 10 minutes spraying water from the outside because there weren’t enough firefighters on the scene to safely go inside — at least four are needed.
“A lot of damage can occur in just a couple of minutes when you don’t have the adequate personnel,” Huckins said.
Those situations — long waits for ambulances and limited fire response — are at the center of a funding decision voters will make in the May 19 election.
The fire district’s board of directors is again asking voters to approve a five-year local option tax that would increase the tax from 47 cents to 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in July. Nearly 54% of voters rejected the same increase in the November 2025 election.
The fire district covers 132 square miles and serves about 25,000 residents in the cities of Cottage Grove and Creswell, as well as the surrounding area, which includes the unincorporated communities of Saginaw and Walker. It operates with a staff of 24, including 21 firefighter-paramedics, a fire chief, a deputy chief and two nonsworn administrative staff.
The department also serves a county-designated ambulance service area, which is about 800 square miles and has more than 33,000 residents. The roughly 8,000 people who live outside the fire district but within the ambulance service area do not pay any taxes to South Lane Fire.
The fire district estimates the tax would raise about $13 million over five years if voters approve the increase.
The district has four fire stations, but the department currently only staffs its Cottage Grove and Creswell stations. Its station on Camas Swale Road near Creswell is primarily used to house equipment, while its Saginaw station houses a part-time fire marshal.
Wooten said the increase would allow the district to hire six additional firefighter-paramedics, with three hired initially and three more within a year of the ballot measure’s passage.
For a property with an assessed value of $235,623 — the current median in Lane County, according to the county assessor — the local option tax would be $221.49 annually.
Wooten said the added staffing would help ensure South Lane Fire crews can respond to both fire and ambulance calls by allowing the district to consistently staff two ambulances at the same time without compromising its ability to respond to fires and other nonmedical emergencies.
The city of Creswell is often left without fire coverage when that station’s typical two-person crew responds to ambulance calls, Wooten said. When that happens, he said Creswell has to rely on crews from about 10 miles away in Cottage Grove, which typically has about three firefighter-paramedics on duty.
In 2025, about 85% of South Lane Fire’s calls were for ambulances, according to Wooten. Additionally, 80% of last year’s calls overlapped with other calls, which occur when emergencies and fires happen at the same time or while all crews are already committed to other incidents, according to the fire district.
However, Wooten said the fire district would not begin staffing the stations it is not currently staffing if the measure passes.
Fire district officials project the proposed local option tax increase would generate $2.44 million in revenue in its first year — roughly double what the current local option tax rate brings in annually. If the measure fails, the current rate of 47 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would remain in effect until it expires in June 2028.
Wooten said that if voters do not pass the increase, South Lane Fire crews would continue to be tied up with overlapping emergencies, limiting their ability to respond to a fire or medical calls.
The fire district has not increased its local option tax rate since it was first passed by the voters in 2012. Fire district officials say the number of emergency calls has increased by more than 60% since 2012, while the number of emergency responders has only grown by 16%.
Wooten also said that the ballot measure’s failure would likely mean that the fire district would no longer provide ambulance rides and leave the county-designated ambulance service area. The fire district’s board could decide to bring the same increase to voters in the November election, but he said time is running out.
“We need more staffing. We cannot continue to do this, and we won’t,” Wooten said, adding that the department would have to make significant staffing reductions if it left the ambulance business because it would no longer have revenue from its ambulance service.
Fire district officials said it’s not clear who would provide ambulance service in South Lane Fire’s county-designated ambulance service area if that happened, but Wooten noted that Lane County code requires them to give the county 60 days’ notice before they officially leave. Wooten said a county-designated subcontracted private entity would likely take over after the notice period.
Wooten said the district would only be able to staff one fire station if it left the ambulance business. He said that station would likely be the centrally located Saginaw station, which is about 3 miles from Cottage Grove and 7 miles from Creswell.
The change, he said, would prompt insurance companies to increase premiums for homeowners’ insurance in the fire district. He said that’s because it would raise the district’s Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification rating, which insurers use to set rates, indicating worse fire protection, as lower scores reflect better protection.
How to learn more
The fire district will send out a community mailer to provide more information about the local option tax to voters, Wooten said.
The South Lane Firefighters Local 851 Union will hold a meet-and-greet event for voters to ask questions about the tax proposal, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at Hillside Church, 635 Holbrook Lane, Creswell.
Jake Pelroy, who is running for the Board of Lane County Commissioners’ East Lane District 5 seat in the May election, will also be at the event to discuss his campaign.
