Nyssa fire district patrons face vote
Taxpayers will decide on two key questions
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, October 17, 2008 10:52 AM PDT
NYSSA — Patrons in the Nyssa Rural Fire Protection District will face two questions on November’s general election ballot — first, whether to dissolve the current fire protection district and form a new one, and, second, whether to approve a new, higher permanent tax rate.
Both measures will have to pass in order for the change to take place.
Oregon law does not allow voters to raise a district’s permanent tax rate once it has been set, so the district must disband and re-form to get a new tax rate, Jim Farmer, secretary of the fire district, said. Voters in the district will be asked to approve a new tax rate of 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, beginning in the 2009 to 2010 fiscal year. The existing rate is set at about 36 cents per $1,000 of value, Farmer said.
General election ballots in Oregon were mailed out today. Boundaries for the proposed district will be the same — minus the properties recently annexed by the city of Nyssa. Loss of tax revenue when Amalgamated Sugar Company’s Nyssa plant closed and when the city annexed the sugar plant property were cited as reasons to increase the district’s funding.
“The sugar factory was our biggest source of revenue,” Farmer, said.
Also the district has experienced inflation, and funding has not kept up with expanding needs. On the top of the list is the need to replace the district’s 20-year-old pump truck, which requires significant repairs, Farmer said, and the district needs to update other pieces of equipment. Also on the ballot are the names of five people who are running for the new five-member board, which would direct the new district if it is approved. They are Frank Ausman, Michael McClain, Duane Drydale, Farmer and Anthony Frost.
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