The tax hike this year would amount to more than $ 2.4 million at a tax rate of 6.4 million stations, which would help bolster their coverage area. A mill levy is a tax rate that is applied to the estimated value of a property.
To handle the volume of calls – which Girardin said was second in the county after the Colorado Springs Fire Department – the department plans to hire about a dozen new staff: six firefighters and six rescue workers.
That area of coverage, which the chief of the fire brigade Dave Girardin said recently expanded to include the Lorson Ranch, included approximately 16,000 homes, which put the department on track to reach 6,600 calls in 2021.
The tax revenue from the operation is also intended to help meet the department’s upcoming and future facility needs, including a fourth fire station in the works as well as a future fifth station to help with coverage.
These stations will be needed, Girardin said, to redistribute resources throughout the department’s 55 square miles coverage area.
“The ideal goal is to shorten response times. Get to your home faster and safer and you can help faster, ”said Girardin.
Security firefighters and emergency medical workers, Girardin said, average response times of just over seven minutes. For Lorson Ranch, their newest coverage area and the furthest from the department’s stations, that response time is closer to nine minutes.
One of the reasons the department needs to replace equipment, including at least two fire engines, is because much of the equipment was purchased in the early and late 1990s and is now approaching the 20-year retirement age for equipment the department uses to keep their equipment in good shape.
But for employees who Girardin said they often view positions in the department as stepping stones to higher-paying jobs in Colorado Springs, the problem isn’t just about replacing employees who are leaving.
“We’re likely to lose nine paramedics and firefighters and paramedics mixed in, no more than the other,” Girardin said. “So we are trying to use this measure to increase the number of boys and girls in order to retain and retain our qualified and experienced firefighters.
“We are currently one of the worst paid fire departments in El Paso County.”
In 2020, the department’s budget was $ 4,955,965. More than 55% of this went towards paying staff, which, according to the budget proposals submitted at the end of 2020, represented the department’s largest expenditure for 2021.
Many of those interviewed by the district shared the department’s concerns about their ability to respond to people and emergencies in their service area and supported the measure.
“Many of us really appreciate what you are doing – and know that you are doing it with a minimum,” said a supporter interviewed by the district.
Others, however, were concerned about the proposed property tax hike, as the move comes after another cent-per-dollar tax hike on real estate in the area for 2021.
“I think with the growth we are seeing we should all be proactive in increasing the protection that the security fire department offers us,” wrote another.
Some of the respondents questioned the transparency of the county’s spending.
The new tax, the measure said, would not be subject to a state-imposed 5.5% restriction, which normally restricts property taxation, according to correspondence between the Division of Local Government and the district.
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