Fire district plans to ask voters for expansion
Saturday, May 19, 2012
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- The Lakeside Rural Fire Protection District plans to ask voters in November to triple the size of its coverage area, which would add a tax to about 700 rural and lakefront property owners.
If successful, those residents will pay 99 cents on every $1,000 of their property's value. A similar proposal failed four years ago.
The World newspaper in Coos Bay reports (http://bit.ly/JWRxVx ) 1,300 Lakeside homeowners cover the cost of equipment and training for 28 volunteer firefighters, but firefighters have increasingly responded to fires outside their 4,000-acre territory.
When they do, the homeowner has to foot the bill, rarely covered by insurance.
The 2008 proposal fell along predictable lines: Those paying for the service voted for the expansion, but those who would see a tax increase voted against it.
