Fire District 13 commissioners will request levy lid lift

Newman Lake Fire and Rescue commissioners will ask voters on Aug. 19 for a six-year reprieve from a levy lid that has slashed the district’s tax rate.

Commissioner Bob Neu said the organization, also known as Spokane County Fire District 13, has depleted its reserves but not its list of needs.

Neu said the district’s currently unaffordable priorities include incentives to recruit and retain volunteers, building a new station, solving a water-supply problem and replacing a broken-down truck.

“We are right now collecting taxes at the lowest rate in the county for fire districts,” he said.

A 1 percent limit on annual budget increases, coupled with rising property values, has driven the district’s rate down to slightly less than 69 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

The rate was about 81 cents last year, 98 cents in 2006 and about $1.02 in the previous two years, according to Spokane County assessor’s records.

That doesn’t include Newman Lake Fire and Rescue’s 50-cent levy for emergency medical service or payments on a $500,000 bond measure voters approved in 2000.

Given that the district apparently didn’t hire its first full-time, paid employee, Chief Rick Cokley, until the fall of 2006, it is unclear how the district was able to collect more than $1 per thousand in previous years.

Nor is it clear why the district hasn’t collected more than $1.24 in 22 years.

Under state law, fire districts may collect up to $1 per thousand for fire service, if they have no paid staff, and up to $1.50 if they have at least one full-time, paid employee.

In assessor’s records dating from 1986, the district first exceeded the $1 rate in 1991 – by less than a penny. Collections remained above $1 per thousand through 1998, and again exceeded that rate in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

The highest collection since 1986 was $1.24 per thousand in 1993. The lowest was 70.9 cents in 1986.

Voters agreed in 1986 to lift the district’s maximum levy to $1 per thousand.

All of that is largely moot now, though. If a mistake was made, it’s been nullified by a three-year statute of limitations. Although Cokley resigned in February, Neu said he and his fellow commissioners plan to hire a full-time interim chief before the August levy lid-lift vote.

When Cokley resigned, he said “both sides (the board and I) had expectations that had not been met.”

“It was a mutual thing,” Neu agreed, declining to elaborate. “We just all agreed that it was for the good of the district.”

Commissioners subsequently hired a consulting firm to analyze district practices.

Although commissioners are seeking authority to levy up to $1.50 per thousand, Neu said they plan to collect only $1.10 at first. They’ll take a wait-and-see approach about additional increases before the lid lift expires in 2013, he said.

Commissioners want to rebuild reserves that have been drained to fix a leaky roof, replace aging equipment and acquire land for a new headquarters station at the corner of Starr and Moffat roads.

Neu said the new building is needed because the district’s stations “don’t meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards or any other standards that we’d like to meet.”

Also, he said the district’s trucks now date from 1999 or later, “which isn’t bad,” but commissioners want to establish a more regular fleet upgrade plan.

He said the district is having to make installment payments on the new fireboat it has just acquired, and on a water tanker that replaced a “third-hand” truck dating from the 1970s that “finally just gave up.”

An unreliable rescue truck still needs to be replaced, Neu said.

Another pressing problem is lack of hydrants at the north end of Newman Lake and lack of access to the lake. Firefighters sometimes have to drive to the south end of the lake to refill their water tanks, “and that delay in time could be critical,” Neu said.

Commissioners are looking for a water source at the north end of the lake, such as a well, a cistern or even an easement to pump water from the lake.

A decrease in volunteers is another problem commissioners hope to address with the levy lid lift, Neu said.

The district’s calls doubled in recent years to nearly 100 last year, but manpower is down. There are still too few calls to maintain interest among volunteers who must attend up to four training sessions a month, Neu said.

With more competing interests, “it’s just very difficult to get people,” he said.

Hiring firefighters other than a chief is unaffordable, so commissioners want to explore use of stipends to attract and retain volunteers.

“It’s just something that’s looming right now,” Neu said.