Josephine County Fire Plan Josephine County has developed a local community wildfire protection plan (2004 Josephine County Integrated Fire Plan). Twelve neighborhoods (i.e., county citizen advisory areas) are identified as communities at risk in the "unprotected area" (JCIFP): 1. Colonial Valley, 2.Fort Vannoy, 3. Fruitdale-Harbeck, 4. Hugo, 5. Jones Creek, 6. Jumpoff Joe, 7. Lower Applegate, 8. Murphy, 9. North Valley (includes Merlin), 10. Redwood, 11. Shan Creek, and 12. Sunny Valley. They are identified as communities at risk as they are not within a fire taxing district and are listed as "unprotected". They do have fire services provided by private corporations that act as "fire departments": 1. Rural Metro Fire Department, 2. Inland Fire Protection Agency, and 3. Grants Pass Rural Fire Department.

Josephine County Information Request The Josephine County Assessor in a January 9, 2007 memorandum to Marie Hill, Josephine County C.O.O. wrote the following. "I have been asked "What is the real market value of all improvements in the unprotected areas of Josephine County? The real market value is estimated at $2,004,051,540 based upon the 2006-07 assessment role. We estimate there is approximately: 12,889 tax lots, 10,000 single family houses, 5000 mobile homes, and 60 multifamily structures." "The estimated assessed value is:"

Cost of Fire Protection The cost of fire protection is a function of a neighborhood’s physical landscape and built environment, the design of the quality of fire protection to be provided, and the ability of the neighborhood’s to support the designed services. The typical method used to pay for fire protection by a RFPD is by a tax assessment against improvements within that district.

Josephine County RFPDs: 2005-06 Tax Roll The existing RFPDs, assessed values within their boun-daries, and their tax rate to pay for their RFPD services follow.

Assessed Value $40,674,255

Tax rate $2.53 per $1,000

Assessed Value $394,952,837

Tax rate $2.38 per $1,000

Williams RFPD: ISO 7/10

Assessed Value $111,647,612

Tax rate $1.06 per $1,000

Number Of Fire Stations Three boundary alternatives have been considered for a potential local RFPD providing service to the Colonial Valley, Jumpoff Joe Creek, Hugo, North Valley and Merlin neighborhoods. A key variable in determining the boundaries was the limit of five all weather road miles from a fire station.

1. Boundary Alternative One - One fire station in downtown Merlin.

2. Boundary Alternative Two - Two fire stations: one near junction of Monument Drive and Brookside Boulevard, and another near the junction of Azalea Drive and Robertson Bridge Road.

3. Boundary Alternative Three - Three Fire Stations: the two Boundary Alternative Two stations and another station near junction of I-5 and Monument Drive.

Assessed Values The following data on Josephine County neighborhoods are from the Josephine County Assessor Master Files (data from certified roll 2007 - December 2007). The assessed value of all improvements on 5,846 tax lots in Boundary Alternative Three is $852,366,083.¹

Big picture ideas for the exploratory effort include the following.

1. Identifying a range of boundaries for potential RFPD(s).

2. Identifying a range in level of services from potential RFPD(s).

3. Identifying a range of fees or assessments for services from potential RFPD(s).

4. Identifying revenues for services from potential RFPD(s).

The ultimate goal is a higher level of fire protection service for a lower cost.

The purpose of the Exploratory Committee is to gather information adequate enough to understand the rules/process to form a potential RFPD (i.e., rules, difficulty, pros and cons, levels of service, fees/ assessments, elections, etc.). This includes educational outreach efforts.

The Exploratory Committee’s purpose is limited to investigating and researching the potential (i.e., merits and liabilities) for forming a RFPD. Other potential actions will be considered and acted upon by other entities after the Exploratory Committee’s purpose has ended.

1. Cavaille, Paul. April 25, 2008. Personal analysis of real market value of all improvements. Colonial Valley, OR.