Newman Lake Fire District may try for levy again after packed meeting shows why residents turned it down

Confusion and misinformation had big roles in the downfall of Newman Lake Fire and Rescue’s third levy request to fund the department, according to residents who gathered Wednesday night for a town hall meeting to discuss what to do next.

Fire districts are allowed to ask voters to approve a maintenance and operations levy of up to $1.50 per $1,000 in assessed home values. Districts can only raise the amount they collect by 1% a year, which is far below inflation, particularly recently. This means that the amount per $1,000 collected drops over time. The last time Newman Lake Fire collected $1.50 per thousand was in 2015. This year, the district is receiving $0.78 per $1,000.

The district’s first levy request was to resume collecting $1.50 per thousand. The most recent attempt in November, which was for $1.30 per $1,000, failed with a 59% “no” vote.

The packed meeting was standing-room only.

“We asked the community and you showed up,” Fire Chief Daron Bement said. “I really felt like I needed to get feedback from the community.”

Several people said they were confused by the wording of the ballot measure, which would have raised the levy to $1.30 and then given the fire commissioners authority to increase the amount of the levy by up to 6% per year instead of only 1% to maintain its budget. Residents said they thought that was giving the district a blank check, and that the levy would automatically increase 6% each year.

Bement said the increases would not have been automatic, and that if commissioners did vote to increase the levy rate in future years, they still cannot legally collect more than $1.50 per $1,000.

Other residents said they were also caught off-guard by the “against” statement in the voter’s guide. Each ballot measure can have a pro and a con statement written by committee, and the district has no input. The con statement stated that the district planned to use the levy money to hire three new full-time staff members, which is not true.

Bement said the district has no such plans. The district has only three paid staff members currently, including the chief, and is staffed primarily by volunteers.

The district has already made immediate budget cuts. One of the first things to go was a popular residential volunteer program. Volunteers would live at the station and respond to calls, ensuring 24/7 coverage. Bement said the district has few volunteers that live in the community, and most work outside of the community during the day and are unavailable to respond to calls.

Residents questioned why the program cost money if the volunteers were unpaid. Bement said the volunteers were housed and fed, and were provided training and gear that costs $10,000 per person . An inexperienced volunteer requires 300 hours of training.

One resident asked whether volunteers were “getting trained on our dime” and then going on to other departments. Bement said yes, because they are volunteering for experience so they can get hired on to a full-time paid position elsewhere.

Longtime volunteer firefighter David Van Derostyne said the district just doesn’t have as many community volunteers as it used to, so the resident volunteers are needed.

“Unfortunately, that’s the only way to get them here,” he said. “While they’re here, they provide excellent service.”

Most of the people who packed the meeting room said they were willing to approve a levy if the district puts it back on the ballot in 2024, but said a jump from $0.78 to $1.30 per $1,000 is steep and asked if the levy could be raised gradually over several years until it reaches $1.30. Bement said he did not know and would find an answer to the question before scheduling another public meeting on the issue in January.

One resident said he was concerned that if the district makes steep budget cuts and response time suffers, that will impact what he pays for homeowners’ insurance or his insurance company might cancel his policy.

Resident Pat Brown said he thinks everyone would like to have a fully staffed, fully functioning department.

“You want it to be like insurance, to be there when you need it,” he said.