Publish Date: 3/4/2006
Fire districts seek tax hikes
Mountain View, Boulder Rural, Frederick-Firestone will make ballot appeals in May election
By Douglas Crowl
The Daily Times-Call
Three local fire districts will seek tax increases this spring.
The Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District announced Friday it will asks voters on May 2 for a 3.8-mill increase, which equates to a $75.62 annual tax increase for a $250,000 home, according to fire officials.
The measure would increase the district’s $1.4 million budget by $721,879 the first year.
Property owners in the 24-square-mile Frederick-Firestone district now pay an annual property tax of 9.56 mills, or about $170 on a $250,000 home.
The added revenue would help pay for the district’s new ambulance service, which it absorbed — along with seven employees — from Tri-Area Ambulance Service in January.
Voters approved Tri-Area’s dissolution after officials said the ambulance district couldn’t financially support itself.
Fire Chief Ted Poszywak said operating the ambulance service has left Frederick-Firestone with a $370,000 annual budget deficit.
Tri-Area Ambulance assets, partly from 3.25 mills in property taxes paid in 2006, have given the Frederick-Firestone district $750,000 to cover that deficit, but Poszywak said that money won’t last.
Once that reserve is depleted, the district would have to seek a mill-levy increase to cover future shortfalls, Poszywak said.
“I don’t see any reason to drain down all of the reserves,” he said.
The money also would pay for new equipment and more firefighters to fully staff the district’s third station, on which it hopes to break ground this year.
Also asking voters for a mill-levy increase this year is the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District, which covers 25 square miles of unincorporated land north and west of Boulder. Its board decided Monday to seek a 4-mill increase in a May 2 election.
The increase would cost the owner of a $250,000 home about $80 annually and would bring in approximately $740,000 to the district next year.
The district currently is funded through a 7.747-mill property tax.
Boulder Rural Chief Bruce Mygatt said the additional funding would allow the district to maintain the current staff of 10 full-time firefighters, nine part-timers and 30 volunteers, as well as a pension fund for the firefighters.
It also would help replace equipment, rebuild a station on the Diagonal Highway and allow new employees to be hired as the district grows.
“We have set out to let our people know that this is based on a 10-year plan,” Mygatt said.
Mountain View Fire Protection District also announced last month that it wants to increase its property tax to district residents by 2 mills, up to 9.817 mills, in the May 2 election.
The increase would add $1.4 million a year to Mountain View’s operating budget, allowing it to hire 18 new career firefighters and fill a coordinator position to recruit more volunteers and reserve firefighters.
In a separate ballot issue, the district also will ask voters to temporarily raise their property taxes by 1.5 mills to pay off an $11.8 million bond, which the district would use to build new fire stations in Dacono, Erie and Mead and renovate two existing stations.
Fire districts seek tax hikes
Mountain View, Boulder Rural, Frederick-Firestone will make ballot appeals in May election
By Douglas Crowl
The Daily Times-Call
Three local fire districts will seek tax increases this spring.
The Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District announced Friday it will asks voters on May 2 for a 3.8-mill increase, which equates to a $75.62 annual tax increase for a $250,000 home, according to fire officials.
The measure would increase the district’s $1.4 million budget by $721,879 the first year.
Property owners in the 24-square-mile Frederick-Firestone district now pay an annual property tax of 9.56 mills, or about $170 on a $250,000 home.
The added revenue would help pay for the district’s new ambulance service, which it absorbed — along with seven employees — from Tri-Area Ambulance Service in January.
Voters approved Tri-Area’s dissolution after officials said the ambulance district couldn’t financially support itself.
Fire Chief Ted Poszywak said operating the ambulance service has left Frederick-Firestone with a $370,000 annual budget deficit.
Tri-Area Ambulance assets, partly from 3.25 mills in property taxes paid in 2006, have given the Frederick-Firestone district $750,000 to cover that deficit, but Poszywak said that money won’t last.
Once that reserve is depleted, the district would have to seek a mill-levy increase to cover future shortfalls, Poszywak said.
“I don’t see any reason to drain down all of the reserves,” he said.
The money also would pay for new equipment and more firefighters to fully staff the district’s third station, on which it hopes to break ground this year.
Also asking voters for a mill-levy increase this year is the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District, which covers 25 square miles of unincorporated land north and west of Boulder. Its board decided Monday to seek a 4-mill increase in a May 2 election.
The increase would cost the owner of a $250,000 home about $80 annually and would bring in approximately $740,000 to the district next year.
The district currently is funded through a 7.747-mill property tax.
Boulder Rural Chief Bruce Mygatt said the additional funding would allow the district to maintain the current staff of 10 full-time firefighters, nine part-timers and 30 volunteers, as well as a pension fund for the firefighters.
It also would help replace equipment, rebuild a station on the Diagonal Highway and allow new employees to be hired as the district grows.
“We have set out to let our people know that this is based on a 10-year plan,” Mygatt said.
Mountain View Fire Protection District also announced last month that it wants to increase its property tax to district residents by 2 mills, up to 9.817 mills, in the May 2 election.
The increase would add $1.4 million a year to Mountain View’s operating budget, allowing it to hire 18 new career firefighters and fill a coordinator position to recruit more volunteers and reserve firefighters.
In a separate ballot issue, the district also will ask voters to temporarily raise their property taxes by 1.5 mills to pay off an $11.8 million bond, which the district would use to build new fire stations in Dacono, Erie and Mead and renovate two existing stations.
