Woodbridge fire district to add tax measure to ballot
If approved by two-thirds of voters, the measure would place an annual tax of
Woodbridge Fire Chief
With a lack of new buildings and property tax revenue still not fully recovered from the economic downturn of 2008, Butler said his district had a deficit of approximately
"I think we've recovered somewhat, but we have not come back to where they should be," Butler said. "(Property taxes) are assessed by the county every two years, and they're still not at the level they need to be."
"The whole reason for this tax is to make sure that we have four stations staffed with eight people -- two people per station -- every day," Butler said. "We've never gone to the public and asked for a tax increase in our 75 years of existence, but eventually costs overrun revenue. When property taxes go down, so does our funding. We had to make a choice to either cut services, or ask for this tax."
Approximately 90 percent of
"Obviously, to keep good personnel employed, you have to pay them and give them a good benefits package," Butler said. "Part of that is giving them a pension, something to retire on."
According to
Former Chief
The preliminary budget also allocates
"Our roof isn't leaking, but it needs to be replaced," Butler said.
Replacing fire engines is another budgetary concern, Butler said, as
The last engine purchase
Although
"We need to rely on those engines when we respond to fires or other service calls," Butler said. "I know it's a huge ask to come up with
In addition to putting out fires, Butler said his district tests fire hydrants within the district, educates the public on fire safety, inspects businesses and responds to medical calls, vehicle accidents, hazardous material spills and more.
"I can remember getting called here at 10 o'clock at night for a broken water line at somebody's house," Butler said. "You wouldn't think that's a fire call, but we went out there and not only did we fix the water line, but we spent the next two hours getting water out of the house."
Butler said that the number of service calls
"We had a total of 1,836 calls last year, that's our highest total ever," Butler said. "Currently, we're sitting on 982 calls for this year, so I believe we're on track to beat last year. It's trending that way."
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