The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District will need to seek help from the Oregon Legislature to incorporate portions of the former Sweet Home Ambulance District.
SHFAD officially formed last year and included the City of Sweet Home, the Sweet Home Rural Fire District and portions of the Sweet Home Ambulance District. The City of Sweet Home ceased to provide fire services.
The boundaries for the new district now cover most of the area adjacent to the Brownsville and Lebanon fire districts and stretch east in a narrow strip along Highway 20 to the Mountain House, about 25 miles from Sweet Home. The forest lands north, east and south of that strip were not included in the new district because they are already taxed for fire suppression service by the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Previously, that area had been part of the Sweet Home Ambulance District with a tax rate of 37 cents per $1,000 of valuation for ambulance services, SHFAD Board Chairman Don Hopkins said during the board’s regular meeting last week. Some portions of the land outside the new district also belonged to the former Rural Fire District, and had a combined tax rate of 79 cents per $1,000.
SHFAD still is required to provide ambulance service to the area though no revenues are generated by the property for the service, Hopkins said. SHFAD also responds to fires in equipment, vehicles and outlying buildings. The Department of Forestry responds to fires in the timber or that threaten timber.
He had proposed annexing the area to the district with a goal of charging a tax of approximately 35 cents per $1,000. The land that would be annexed includes more than $1 million in property values and would provide roughly $40,000 to SHFAD.
SHFAD could go to voters to approve an annexation of all of the property with the district’s permanent rate of $1.50 per $1,000; Hopkins. Rightly so, timber owners would probably contest the decision, which would be the same as a double taxation.
The board agreed in December to proceed with the annexation of the property then charge a split tax rate within the district. After meeting with Linn County Assessor Mark Noakes and the Oregon Department of Revenue, it appeared the district might be able to charge the second rate on the proposed annexation.
Later, he learned the district would be unable to charge the split rate. A similar situation in Deschutes County required that county to go to the legislature to get it changed by statute.
SHFAD is unlikely to capture the attention of the upcoming special legislative session, Hopkins said. The district will probably need to wait until 2003 before the legislature can take a look at it.
In other business, the board:
– Approved an increase of $2,000 to $60,000 in Chief Beaver’s salary during its December meeting.