QuickTake:

Voters in two rural Lane County fire districts rejected property tax increases Nov. 4 that would have helped fund their agencies. The chief at Lane Fire Authority said the district will need to identify cuts.

Voters in Lane County on Nov. 4 defeated measures that would have raised property taxes to help fund two rural fire districts.

A captain at South Lane County Fire & Rescue told Lookout Eugene-Springfield he was discouraged by low voter turnout and the results of the election. The levy would have provided funds to hire more people for the understaffed district.

“’We’ve gotten to the point that what we’re doing is not sustainable, and our guys are so overworked and burnt out and tired, and we just need that relief,” said Stephen Beach, who is also a union representative for the district.

He said the district’s chief is looking at options for bridging the gaps in resources and responding to different types of calls.

Meanwhile, the fire chief at Lane Fire Authority said the district will need to reduce costs. 

“Because the measure did not pass, Lane Fire Authority must now identify cuts needed to align operations with available funding,” Dale Borland wrote in a letter to the editor sent to Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

South Lane County Fire & Rescue

South Lane County Fire & Rescue serves about 33,000 residents in Cottage Grove, Creswell and rural south Lane County, providing fire and emergency medical services. The district says 84% of its calls are medical emergencies.

The measure would have raised the current five-year local option levy from 47 cents to 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The current levy is set to expire in 2027. If the measure had passed, the old rate would have ended in 2026 and been replaced by the new rate. 

Voters first passed a levy at the 47-cent rate in 2012, and renewed it in 2017 and 2022. This year, the increased rate failed 53.7% to 46.3%, a difference of 490 votes. In total, 6,636 people voted, a turnout of about 31.1%.)

South Lane County Fire & Rescue had said the levy would fund six new full-time positions and one apprentice, bringing daily staffing to 10 personnel and allowing the district to staff a third full-time ambulance. The district has said its call volume has increased 62% since 2014, and additional staffing would help reduce wait times for emergency response.

Beach said the district averages 15 to 16 calls a day between two medic units, and each unit is staffed with two or three people. Beach spent a recent 48-hour shift on a medic unit rather than providing scene management for fires and car crashes, as captains typically do.

“As a department, we are just way too busy for the lack of staffing,” Beach said. “And that was why we were trying to go for this levy, to ask for community support so we can provide more boots on the ground.”

He said the district plans to put the levy on the ballot again in May and will do more community outreach events in the meantime.

“We’re going to do our absolute best to help educate the community and get the information out that would help get the community to go out to vote in favor of the levy,” Beach said. 

Lane Fire Authority

Lane Fire Authority provides fire and emergency medical services to 45,000 people living in western Lane County. The fire authority had proposed renewing and increasing its five-year local option levy to account for a 20% increase in calls since the levy was approved in 2021.

The fire authority serves a 282-square-mile area that includes the northwest corner and west side of Eugene all the way to Mapleton, including Elmira, Veneta, Noti, Crow, and south to Lorane.

The fire authority had said it needed additional firefighters and staffing quarters to respond to the increase in calls and reduce response times. Medical emergencies account for 80% of the fire authority’s calls.

The fire authority wrote on its website ahead of the election that it was using reserves to maintain service levels.

The measure would have raised the levy from 35 cents to 55 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Voters defeated the measure 53.6% to 46.4%, with 6,417 people voting; turnout was about 33.6%.)

The current levy is set to expire next year.

Borland wrote in the letter that the district’s board of directors will discuss next steps at its Nov. 18 meeting in Veneta and invited community members to attend.

“These conversations will focus on where and how to reduce costs while continuing to provide essential emergency response,” Borland wrote.

He did not say if the levy would go to the ballot again in May.