Jefferson County Fire & EMS will ask voters to sign on for a $14.5 million bond this May. People who remember the 2021 race for the EMS board are saying, “I thought you said you wouldn’t need new taxes.”
Mike Ahern ran, and won his bid to serve on the EMS board. He and two others, Janet Brown and Joe Krenowicz, ran with the intent to merge ambulance service with the fire service. At that time, all three candidates said the merger could happen without additional bond levies or taxes.
The districts officially merged in July of 2022. Now in May of 2024, the district is rolling out a bond levy.
“I feel sick about it,” said Ahern. “We’ve got our reputations.”
Ahern recalls his time as a county commissioner when the board saved money over several years to pay for building a new courthouse. He thinks the fire district is expanding too quickly and should have solicited more community input before going out for this bond.
Janet Brown also thinks the fire board should have done more education and waited a little longer, but she plans to vote for the bond. “The place was built in 1989. Things have grown. We have to keep up with that,” Brown said.
“At the time with the information we had we felt comfortable we wouldn’t have to go out for taxes for a number of years,” said Krenowicz, who hasn’t decided whether he’ll vote for it.
“They weren’t wrong,” said Fire Chief Jeff Blake. “That was said before I came here.”
Blake says he’s not satisfied with the status quo of the fire district and doesn’t think the community should be either. Since he’s been here he’s doubled the staff, moved to 24-hour staffing seven days a week, and reduced average response times in Madras from 12 minutes to six minutes.
The districts permanent tax rate, $1.18 per $1,000 valuation, is the lowest in Central Oregon. Crook County with a smaller service population and a lower call volume has a tax rate of $1.59.
The fire district hasn’t asked for additional funding since 1998, which Blake believes demonstrates the organization’s fiscal responsibility. Yet in that 26 years the facility and the equipment has aged and the community has grown.
Much of the fleet is 25 years old. The existing medical units have 230,000 miles on them. Women now make up 40% of the crew. The building needs more restrooms and dorms and a new HVAC system.
“I’m not doing my job if I’m not planning ahead and making some sort of strategy,” Blake said.
The fire district would split the money into two series. The first $7 million they plan to use for upgrading the building and purchasing new equipment. They’ll wait four years or more to draw the second $7.5 million to spend on future need.
Former EMS Board Member Louise Muir lost to Mike Ahern in the 2021 race for the EMS board. She worries the promises her opponents made about not needing to raise taxes will cause people to question the fire district’s bond measure.
“I think the people who ran did a disservice to the fire department and the EMS with what they said,” Muir said. She plans to vote in favor of the bond levy. “They’re building more and more places and extending the boundaries and expecting the same thing from the fire department we had ten years ago.”
Jefferson County Fire & EMS will provide voters with opportunities to learn more about the bond and three open houses at the Madras and Culver Fire Stations.
April 24 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. — Madras Fire StationMay 1 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. — Culver Fire StationMay 15 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. — Madras Fire Station
Madras Fire Station: 765 S. 5th St. Madras, OR. 97741 Culver Fire Station: 200 1st. Ave. Culver, OR. 97734. For more information call 541-475-7274.
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