CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — Evergreen Fire Rescue is asking voters to approve a 0.89% sales tax increase on November's ballot to help fund emergency services, warning that without more revenue, it may not be able to keep up with growing demand.
Fire Chief Mike Weege said rising costs across the board have put a serious strain on the department at a time when it is working to increase staffing, upgrade fire stations, and replace aging equipment.
"Fire apparatus, personal protective equipment, the tools of our trade, the things we use every day have, in some cases, more than doubled in cost," Weege said.
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Evergreen Fire Rescue said the cost of emergency vehicles, including fire engines, brush trucks and ambulances has surged 263% since 2004, with medical supplies and protective equipment prices rising alongside them.
Weege said the firetrucks in service are all more than 20 years old and need to be replaced. He said the stations they operate out of also need significant upgrades, having been built for a volunteer fire department at a time before paid firefighters and medics were sleeping and eating there during around-the-clock shifts.
He said the the garage doors at Station One off Highway 73 are too small for modern apparatus to fit through, forcing the district to custom-order engines built to fit the aging building. Evergreen Fire Rescue said the station also has no way to separate apparatus and equipment that carry carcinogens from the areas where firefighters and medics live and work.
Weege said replacing Station One, and combining it with Station Four at a new location just south of the current site, is a top priority.
Call volume in the district has also increased 107% in the last 10 years, according to data from Evergreen Fire Rescue. Weege said that's driven in part by a rapidly aging population.
"Our EMS call volume has continued to rise. We've got an aging population. In 2011, about 13% of our population was 60 years old and older. It's over 30% now," Weege said. "We've got five ambulances. We can get five out the door, but it really strains our volunteer system, and we just need more paid personnel to help get that done."
On the fire side, Weege said the department is operating at 50% staffing, with nine of the 18 firefighters it needs. Without full staffing, Weege warns residents will feel the impact directly.
"They'll see longer response times. They'll see less people showing up on scene. The point of the combination department is we need the toolbox to arrive with firefighters on it to get to work. If only one firefighter or two are showing up, they have to wait for others to arrive, and that just delays what we can do on scene," Weege said.
Weege said 75% of the district's revenue comes from property taxes, but recent state legislation, capping how much that revenue can grow, has squeezed the department's funding.
"When the cost of our insurance went up 45% over the last three years, the cost of a fire truck doubled. That's not keeping pace with the cost of our expenses," Weege said.
Pine Valley resident Patty McCord said she is aware of the wildfire risk near her home and said she would happily support an extra sales tax if it means keeping her neighborhood safe.
"Yes, they need all the resources, people, fire trucks, whatever they need," McCord said. "I would support anything at this point that would support our fire and rescue and keep our neighborhoods and our community as safe as possible."
Weege said the department has tried to manage costs before turning to voters, by purchasing used fleet vehicles and reducing its operational vehicle count from just over 30 vehicles down to 25.
"We've been able to keep these trucks going for over 20 years, which is a lot for a vehicle that gets worked as hard as these vehicles do," Weege said.
The proposed 0.89% sales tax is expected to raise more than $5 million a year for emergency services, according to Evergreen Fire Rescue. The fire district said the money would go toward paying firefighters and paramedics, recruiting volunteers, wildfire mitigation, community education, emergency response capability and upgrading fire stations.
"Sales tax allows us another avenue to diversify our revenue stream away from property taxes and continue to maintain and grow what Evergreen Fire Rescue needs to do to be able to provide service to this community," Weege said.
He said the Evergreen Fire Protection District Board will vote in August on whether to send the sales tax measure to voters on November's ballot.
