Clark County Fire District 6 is asking voters to pass Proposition No. 2 tax levy. Voters should remember how we were misled in last November election’s Proposition No. 1 that increased the district’s levy 18 percent.
The misleading terms in that ballot text, such as “restore” and “maintain funding,” made Proposition 1 sound like a replacement levy, with the word “increase” absent in the text, yet a tax increase was indeed its effect. Proposition 1 presumably made up for decreased property values after the 2008-era recession, and the fire district floated it just in time, knowing valuations were on their way back up. The newfound money is earmarked for a new Salmon Creek fire station, which voters said “no” to in an earlier measure. Voters were misled and our prior decision was blatantly disregarded.
In an irony of timing, I simultaneously received a porch flier for Proposition 2 and in the mail my new county property assessment. My property value increased $30,000, and now is back to the pre-recession valuation. Meanwhile, the fire district is sourcing expensive land to build a multi-million-dollar fire station.
Voters should take pause before a rubber-stamped “yes” vote on Proposition 2. Instead, consider sending a message to the fire district that its staff might be maintained with funds from an unnecessary new station and land, which voters never intended to approve in the first place.
