RIDGEFIELD — Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue leaders worry fire and emergency services will have to cut back as other jurisdictions adopt a taxing scheme that harnesses revenue from new development.
During a forum Monday night, Fire Chief John Nohr walked attendees — about two dozen at Ridgefield’s Fire Station 21 and more watching virtually — through the tax increment financing plans in place at the city of Ridgefield and Port of Ridgefield, along with one proposed by the Port of Woodland.
These tax programs allow the jurisdictions to invest in infrastructure and other improvements, then pay later for those improvements through bonds or other methods. But Nohr noted that means the fire, EMS and library districts, as well as other junior taxing districts in the affected areas would only be able to collect the revenue from the tax assessment on the land before it’s developed, when it’s less valuable. Any increase in property taxes from development would go solely to the jurisdiction that enacted the tax increment financing.
Nohr showed an example of the tax statement from the popular Ridgefield Costco, which opened in August. The store is inside the city of Ridgefield’s tax increment financing area. The fire district only receives the tax revenue on the assessed value of the empty lot — about $2 million — before the 160,000-square-foot warehouse was built. Now, the property is valued at $21 million.
The increased property taxes collected go exclusively to the city of Ridgefield. The fire district’s levy rate means the Costco’s property taxes should result in about $43,000 for fire and EMS services, but the pre-TIF valuation means the district is only seeing about $4,300. The roughly $39,000 difference goes to the city of Ridgefield, yet the fire district is still on the hook for emergencies at the Costco store.
“If you have an open field, except for the occasional lightning strike that starts a grass fire, you don’t have problems in an open field,” Nohr said. “We have problems in places where people live, in places where people conduct business.”
However, Nohr gave credit to Ridgefield, which was the first to adopt a tax increment financing in the fire district’s jurisdiction. He noted the city agreed to dedicate $2 million toward a new fire station to serve west Ridgefield.
Ridgefield City Manager Steve Stuart said he’s glad the city could serve as an example of partnership on this issue. The city plans to buy land for the fire station this year, he said.
But Nohr said the city didn’t have to do that, and there’s no guarantee other jurisdictions will do the same, especially as the Port of Woodland proposes placing nearly 5,200 acres into a tax increment financing district.
Port of Woodland Executive Director Jennifer Wray-Keene declined to comment to The Columbian about the port’s plan.
The Port of Woodland had its first public briefing on the plan Tuesday afternoon, with another scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the port’s administration building at 1608 Guild Road.
Tax increment financing also requires cities to consider repayment if agencies including fire districts can show an impact to service levels from the lost revenue.
“We try to be forward-looking to see what’s coming, right? But for us to actually show the impact, an event has to happen,” Nohr said. “So do we have to lose an apartment building to a fire to say, ‘Hey, look, we told you what’s going to happen.’ ”
Now, Nohr said the fire district has been researching options to help the district recover some of the loss. He showed those at Monday’s meeting two different tax options that would mean lowering the fire levy and implementing a different tax measure dedicated to funding the fire district. But he recognized those options are confusing for homeowners and still may not recover the kind of funding needed.
The chief also said the district has consulted attorneys, some of whom believe tax increment financing may violate the Washington Constitution.
“The fire district is not anti-growth,” Nohr said. “It’s been fascinating to watch the growth in the city of Ridgefield, the city of La Center and the city of Woodland over the last several years. … But what we’re saying is, when growth happens, it brings challenges for us, and we can’t meet the challenges if we don’t have the revenue.”
