Josephine County Fire Protection Committee Minutes of the January 23, 2008 FPC meeting provide the following recommendations:

FPC "Recommendations. A motion was made and seconded to work towards the November ballot, and the committee recommended the Board of Commissioners form a fire district with a governing board and no tax district at this time."

Rural-urban areas that have more structures within their fire service area can allocate equipment and personnel costs across a greater number of real property structures than in remote rural areas. A county wide fire district would likely increase the tax rate more of property owners in urban areas who, in effect, would subsidize a large portion of the cost of fire service to remote rural locations. Urban areas would benefit from a local fire district that was not part of a county-wide fire district.

RFPD's serving property owners and citizens of a limited area within Josephine County may offer advantages that a large county wide fire district can not provide. The advantages are shorter travel distance, local RFPD district elected representative control, a tax rate or subscription cost based on local area fire protection costs (that would exclude other county areas), rural funding grants, equipment selection, fire suppression standards specific to the area and, the opportunity for volunteer service.

Property Taxes Fund RFPD All RFPD’s are taxing districts. Taxpayers/ property owners should be aware that their property tax would likely be increased if their property is within any newly created fire service district. All fire service districts are taxing districts. They can be created by voter approval, which is always required to impose a permanent tax rate per thousand dollar of assessed real property value, and to elect a board of directors to govern the district.

It’s A Levy ORS 476 could be used as the vehicle to implement a "no tax district". "ORS 476.330 Prevention and control of fires in zone 2; tax levy. (1) The county court or board of county commissioners of any county may prevent and control fire occurring within the limits of zone 2 in such county, and may for such purposes establish and maintain fire fighting and fire and fire control facilities and contract with existing fire control agencies, either individuals, associations, corporations, duties or rural fire protections districts. The State Fire Marshal...shall meet with and advise..."

ORS 476.330 (3) reads..."the court or board annually shall levy a tax upon the taxable property lying within zone 2 of the county, not to exceed one-fourth of one percent (0.0025) of the real market value of all taxable property within the zone computed in accordance with OR 308.207, for the purpose of furnishing such fire protection."   This is equal to a tax rate of $2.50 per $1,000 assessed property value.

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.

- Donations Are Not Tax Deductible -

Edited by Exploratory Committee