Chief baffled by ‘no’ votes on fire district merger

election: It’s losing by slim margin despite support from Yelm taxpayers

The Olympian | • Published August 26, 2009

Comments (0)

Fire Chief Rita Hutcheson is still scratching her head a week after last week’s primary election.

A bid to consolidate the Rainier and Yelm fire districts and city of Yelm into the Southeast Thurston Fire and EMS Regional Fire Authority, which she would lead, is failing by 14 votes. About 200 ballots still need to be counted. The final ballot count is scheduled for Tuesday. The results will be certified the following day.

The root of the confusion for Hutcheson is not only that it’s being defeated – but where it’s being defeated.

Voters in the city limits of Yelm were supporting its passage even though it would bring higher taxes.

While those living in the Rainier Fire District also were giving approval, voters in the Yelm Fire District were defeating it. This despite the fact that the two fire district effectively merged last year, a regional fire authority would bring no change to their tax bill, and they’d pay the same as they’re paying now – as much as city residents would under the authority. There was no organized opposition to the measure.

“The people I talked to are saying, ‘What are people thinking? This is a no-brainer,’ ” Hutcheson said. “I’m at a loss.”

Another proposal to create a regional fire authority, consolidating the Grand Mound-Rochester and Littlerock fire districts, easily passed last week.

The authority essentially allows neighboring fire districts to consolidate and put more money toward front-line response by eliminating duplicative administrative jobs. Two key features that make an authority different from a merger or contract for service: a planning committee has more flexibility to determine how an authority operates and is governed, and voters must approve it. The regional fire authority requires a combined simple majority to pass.

In August 2007, voters in both fire districts approved measures to keep the levy rate they pay at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value for the next several years. That would not change with approval of the authority.

Under an authority, the city of Yelm would see a reduction in the levy rate that pays for basic city services but would pay a new levy rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value – the same as the fire districts starting in 2011 for fire protection and emergency medical response. As a result, the owner of a $250,000 home within the city limits would pay almost $300 more a year. The city’s service contract with the fire district is scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.

Yelm Mayor Ron Harding offered an explanation for the division in voter sentiment.

“When you’re trying to reach a group of voters, it’s easy to get your message out in a dense area,” he said.

Harding said he talked to homeowner associations and went door to door to answer questions about the proposal. Nobody likes to impose a tax on themselves, he said, but city residents understood the need to pay an equal share for fire and emergency medical service. In the rural fire district, he continued, there was not an ability to go door-to-door and explain to residents they aren’t being taxed a second time.

Hutcheson said she was confident in the passage of the authority and she allowed the submission deadline for the November ballot to pass. The deadline was a week before the primary election. If the 14 votes can’t be made up, Hutcheson said the proposal could return to the ballot in February with the downside being the higher cost to pay for that election.

“It’s not dead yet,” she said of the current proposal. “I’m still praying.”

Christian Hill: 360-754-5427

chill@theolympian.com