QuickTake:

Voters in four Lane County jurisdictions will decide ballot measures in the Nov. 4 election. Here's a roundup.

Ballots for the Nov. 4 election are arriving this week in about 87,000 mailboxes in Springfield, Dunes City and two county fire districts — and voters in each of those jurisdictions will be facing just one measure.

Here’s a summary of the issues on the Nov. 4 ballot:

Springfield

The city of Springfield is asking voters to renew a five-year local option levy that funds a fire station and increases its rate to reflect rising costs for materials, services and staffing. 

Voters approved the current levy in 2020 at a rate of 38 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value. If passed, proposed Ballot Measure 20-371 would raise the rate to 58 cents for five years beginning July 1, 2026. It would replace the current levy rate, which expires on June 30.

The levy supports Eugene Springfield Fire Station 3 at North 28th Street and Centennial Boulevard, but city staff have said the current levy rate pays for about two-thirds of costs at the station. The remaining costs are subsidized by the city’s general fund, which is already overburdened, city staff have said.

Station costs include wages and benefits, safety equipment, vehicle expenses, dispatch and fire academy training. The proposed levy would help fund about eight full-time equivalent firefighter-paramedics, according to the city.

The proposed levy would maintain current incident response times in Springfield and would maintain the number of firefighter-paramedics on duty each shift, the city says. If the measure does not pass, there will be no continued levy for fire and life safety funding.

If the measure passes, a Springfield owner of a house with an assessed value of $189,000 would pay $100 per year, for a total of $500 over the life of the levy. This would be an increase of about $28 annually and $140 over five years. 

Ballots will be mailed to about 44,400 Springfield voters.

More information is available at the city of Springfield’s website.

Lane Fire Authority 

Lane Fire Authority is asking voters to approve a five-year local option levy that will raise property taxes to pay for two full-time firefighters and medics and put staff living quarters at Station 109 on Spencer Creek.

The proposal includes a renewal and increase in the existing tax rate for the fire district. In all, the levy would total 55 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value. The current rate is 35 cents and the increase would be 20 cents.

The increase would cost property owners another $20 for every $100,000 of assessed value. The owners of a house with a $200,000 assessed value, for example, would pay an extra $40 a year.

The authority serves western Lane County and responds to medical calls and fires throughout the region with a combination of volunteer and paid staff. The authority has about three dozen people in each category: staff and volunteers.

Call volume has increased by about 20% since voters approved the existing levy in 2021, Fire Chief Dale Borland said, adding that the additional staff and living quarters at Spencer Creek will help with responses to calls.

The goal of the incremental increase is to keep pace with the demand and grow to meet it, he said.

About 19,700 voters in the district will receive ballots.

For more information, visit www.lanefire.org, 

South Lane Fire & Rescue

South Lane County Fire & Rescue is asking voters to replace its expiring operations levy with a higher one to keep pace with rising costs and emergency call volume. 

The proposed measure would double the current levy from 47 cents to 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in fiscal year 2026-27. If the measure passes, the owner of a house with a $200,000 assessed value would pay $188 annually, up from $94 annually under the existing levy. 

The increase would fund a third full-time paramedic ambulance, replace equipment, maintain facilities, and preserve staff levels. The district says the measure would allow the hiring of six new full-time positions and one apprentice, allowing daily staffing to go from seven to 10. The district says its call volume has increased 62% since 2014.

Without the new levy, district officials say service reductions would be necessary. 

The measure is expected to generate about $13 million over five years. If passed, the measure would replace the current levy, which expires in 2027.

About 21,500 voters in the district, which primarily serves southern Lane County, will receive ballots. 

For more information, email info@southlanefire.org. 

Dunes City

Dunes City voters face a proposal that would allow candidates for the City Council to qualify for the ballot by paying a $20 fee in lieu of collecting 20 signatures. The council voted Aug. 6 to place the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot, but did not make a recommendation on its merits.

The proposal would amend the city’s charter, which now requires candidates to gather 20 signatures from registered voters in the city to earn a spot on the ballot.

Issues the council discussed at its Aug. 6 meeting included the difficulty of getting candidates to run and the time the city’s small staff is required to take to validate signatures. Other jurisdictions allow payments in lieu of candidate petitions.

Other councilors, however, worried that the practice was “bad optics,” and a city resident at the meeting argued that gathering signatures served as a “vetting” process for candidates.

Dunes City, about 7 miles south of Florence, has roughly 1,400 residents. About 1,300 city voters will receive ballots.

Ballots are due by 8 p.m. Nov. 4, although mailed ballots postmarked by that date can be counted if they arrive at the county elections office no later than Nov. 12. Ballots also can be returned to the elections office, 275 W. 10th Ave. in Eugene — or they can be dropped off at any of the county’s ballot boxes. See a list of ballot drop boxes.

— Compiled by Lillian Schrock-Clevenger, Ashli Blow, Ben Botkin and Mike McInally.