Voters approve tax boost to fund fire services in southwestern Spokane County

Voters in Spokane County’s largest fire district approved a property tax increase that officials say will be used to replace aging trucks and equipment and respond to increasing call volumes.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to do that, and we appreciate the support of the public,” said Cody Rohrbach, chief of Spokane County’s Fire District 3.

The fire district encompasses 565 square miles, roughly the southwestern third of the county. The department includes nearly 120 part-time, on-call firefighters and seven full-time staff members, who serve about 15,000 residents living in 5,000 homes.

District 3 firefighters responded to 1,245 calls in 2012, a number that rose steadily to 1,517 last year.

The ballot measure, approved Tuesday with 66 percent of the vote, raises the property tax rate from $1.40 to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Voters approved an identical measure in 2008 and the tax rate has since dropped. The $1.50 rate will be in place for one year.

Rohrbach said District 3 has been throttled by a state law prohibiting local jurisdictions from increasing property tax rates by more than 1 percent each year. The department is funded entirely through property taxes, and inflation has outpaced allowable rate increases, he said.

The ballot measure, technically called a “levy lid lift,” allows the fire district to temporarily raise the tax rate above 1 percent.