What is the fire levy lid lift going to do for us?

The fire levy lid lift will allow the fire district to add five firefighter/EMT's to the district staff.  This will allow the fire district to staff Fire Station 27, (Collins Lake),  full time with a minimum of two paid firefighter/EMTs at all times.  This will reduce response times throughout the district and help us get to you quicker when you need us most.

How much is the rate increase and what will it cost me?

The property rate increase will be $0.31 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.  The increase will cost the owner of a $200,000 home an addition $62 a year, or just over $5 per month. For assistance in determining the exact cost of your increase click here.

I've heard that we pay more to the School District than to the Fire Department, is that true?

Unlike the school district the Fire District must rely solely on local levies for support.  The school district has the added advantage of state funding.  For the school district, state funding accounts for 84% of their 19 million dollar operating budget.  The rest comes from the local levy. 

The school district also has the benefit of a much bigger district with an assessed valuation of 1.8 billion dollars.  This is 700 million more than Fire District 2.  For these reasons it is difficult to draw a fair comparison between these two local district levies and their organizational needs.

Is this money going to be used for salary increases for current employees?

No. Every dollar collected by the increase will be used for the sole purpose of adding 5 new firefighter/EMT positions. 

How did this current staffing proposal come about? 

Following the loss of our most recent levy the Fire District began a community discussion in an outreach effort aimed at improving services for all North Mason citizens. The district held a community forum, participated in community meetings and formed a Community Advisory Committee (CAC), in an effort to best understand community need.  After numerous meetings and hours of input the District analyzed three different staffing proposals.  The District choose to move forward with the CAC recommended staffing proposal that would provide guaranteed, full time, staff coverage while ensuring the safety of our community as well as the firefighters. 

Why is the district choosing to move away from the Benefit Assessment Charge, (BAC)?

In 2002 the district implemented a BAC to eliminate the state mandated proration/loss of local tax dollars away from the fire district to other taxing districts.  Seeing that the mandated proration of funding was happening to fire districts across the state, handicapping their ability to provide service, the legislature stepped in and passed legislation in 2005 that gave fire district funding the protection it needed. 

The six year term of the BAC is set to expire at the end of this year. The renewal of the BAC would place over $700,000 of district funding in jeopardy if it could not be renewed again.  This is a chance the district cannot afford to take. With the threat to fire district funding gone it is the districts intent to allow the BAC to expire and replace those funds with the traditional fire levy. In doing so the district will save $16,000 in administration costs, and more importantly secure the fire districts funding well into the future.

How is the current levy proposal different from last year's levy proposal?  

In last years proposal the district asked for a 6 year lid lift that would have included a 4% annual increase over the term of the lid lift.  While the initial ‘lift’ of the current levy proposal is higher it completely eliminates a built in annual increase. When comparing the two levies over a 6 year period, the current proposal will bring in nearly $100,000 less than the levy proposed last year.  The current proposal also differs by substituting all increased funding for the replacement of district equipment and vehicles  for investment in more firefighters; helping with our number 1 goal of reducing our response times and increasing your safety.

Why not use volunteers for your staffing proposal?

 The district currently has both an active student volunteer program and a support volunteer program.  The unfortunate fact is that federal and state training mandates combined with the needs of home life have significantly reduced the time that volunteers can commit to the fire district. With the time that volunteers can commit it takes 6 volunteers to make up the coverage hours provided by 1 career firefighter.  This would require 30 trained volunteers to staff the Collins Lake Fire Station.  With the immense difficulty of recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters this is not a feasible expectation.