Fire district seeking levy, bond

PRIEST RIVER — The West Pend Oreille Fire District is spreading the word about two requests that will appear on ballots when its patrons head to the polls on Tuesday, May 17.
“Our intention is to hit the ground running and get as much information to as many people as we can,” said fire district Commissioner Frank Larsen.
The first ask for voters is approval of a $500,000 general obligation bond to make payments on an annual loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will fund the completion of Station 3 on Old Priest River Road and the construction of a Station 4, which is being co-located with a waste collection site on East River Road being developed by Bonner County.
The district has allocated the funds in its spending pan to service the loan without boosting taxes, although voter approval is required.
Station 3 already houses up to six pieces of apparatus and the district seeks to add staff quarters, a training room and a relief shelter when storms knock out power for extended periods of time.
The facility would provide shower facilities, water supplies and a place to charge mobile devices and laptop computers.
Those services are already available at the Station 1 off Highway 57 near Priest River Airport and would expand to the south side of the Pend Oreille River if approved by voters.
The establishment of Station 4, meanwhile, would bring up the level of service on the north side of town.
The second ask on the ballot is a levy measure to provide 12- to 24-hour shifts to speed response times in addition to upgrading worn and outmoded equipment. District officials said there was a plethora of federal grants to fulfill those needs 15 years ago, although those grant opportunities have either dried up or become harder to secure due to increasing competition.
The district is justifying the budget enhancements due to the tripling of its call volume over the last 10 years. The district responded to 216 calls for service in 2005, compared to 660 call in 2015, which is placing a bigger drag on funding, equipment and personnel.
If approved by voters, it would be the first such increase in 33 years.
The proposed tax increase applies only to the appraised value of structures on a property within the district.
“We do not tax on land,” said district Lt. Cathy Coyle.
The levy would increase to $1.37 per $1,000 of net assessed value. A home with a net value of $100,000, for instance, would see a tax increase of approximately $136.70, which amounts to a monthly increase of $11.39.
Homeowner, timber and other tax exemptions would lessen the increased tax burden.