Firefighter mill levy will go to voters

Ballots for 24/7 emergency services mill levy could be mailed out by mid-August

By RICHARD HANNERS/Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish City Council approved sending a 24-mill levy to the voters to pay for additional firefighters and medical personnel needed to transition the city to 24/7 emergency services.

If approved, the city's current levy of 111.21 mills would increase to 135.11. With the resort tax rebate, the effective tax rate would be about 108 mills, up from 84 mills.

The additional mills would raise about $464,759 a year and allow the fire department to hire six more firefighter-paramedics. The department could then provide 24/7 service with three rotating shifts of four persons each and two floaters to cover leave-time.

Currently, the Whitefish Fire Department has a fire chief, a fire marshal and eight firefighter-paramedics. The department is manned seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with call-outs at night.

City manager Gary Marks said the number of night calls since 2004 has increased by 30 percent, reaching on average more than two per night in 2007, while the number of firefighters has held steady at 10.

"This call volume is taking a toll on our personnel, who must also work 12-hour shifts," he said, noting that response times at night averaged 10 minutes, compared to three minutes in daytime.

About 40 percent of calls are made by residents outside the city limits. Marks said the city recently negotiated a new contract with the rural fire district that doubled fees and will expire in two years.

Volunteer firefighter Tom Krause said he joined up about 11 years ago when there were about 35 volunteers in the department.

"We had to respond to the fire hall right away or we wouldn't get a seat on the truck," he said.

There are about eight volunteers now, he said, and they play a supporting roll instead of being first-responders. He said declining volunteerism might be explained by the amount of training required now and the volume of calls.

"We've been talking about 24/7 for a long time now, and the number of calls has just gone up during that time," he said.

If approved, Whitefish taxpayers would see payments on a home assessed for tax purposes at $200,000 increase by $98 per year. A $300,000 home would increase by $147. Marks noted the difference between assessed and market values for homes.

He also explained that money for large capital projects — such as a new city hall, downtown parking garage and street projects, or emergency services building — will come from revenue sources that cannot be diverted to operational costs. This includes resort tax and tax-increment financing (TIF) money, which are earmarked for other uses.

Whitefish will be required to have 24/7 emergency services once it reaches a population of 10,000 and becomes a Class 1 city. That could happen by the next federal census in 2010, he said.

Councilor Nancy Woodruff asked why Whitefish failed to win a federal Safer Grant to help ease the transition to 24/7 if Whitefish was a "poster child" for such a grant.

Marks said he wasn't sure why the city didn't qualify, but it could try again before the mill levy goes to the voters. He also noted that if voters approve the mill levy, the city will have a tougher time winning the grant.

The city eventually would have to come up with the money for 24/7 emergency service even if it won the grant, he said. The grant would provide 80 percent of the money the first year, and 20 percent less each year until it zeroed out in five years.

Marks said a mail-in election for the emergency services mill levy could take place sometime in mid-August. If approved, the levy would be included in the 2008-2009 tax assessments.