Box Elder residents will get new fire stations

By Dave Archer

October 6, 2008 | ELWOOD -- Residents living within the new Central Box Elder Fire Special Service District had the chance last week to attend public hearings and have their questions answered about how much the new district will cost them.

Meetings were held in Bear River City and Elwood, where elected officials explained the reasoning behind the creation of the district, and how it would benefit residents of those cities. According to Elwood Mayor Lynn Hardy, the need for a district arose when Tremonton, which has traditionally provided coverage to the town, asked for compensation for their coverage.

"We decided that if we were going to have to pay that kind of money, we would look into putting our own fire station in and see if we could do it for roughly the same amount of dollars, and we think we can," Hardy said.

To pay for the creation of the district, officials are asking residents to approve a $950,000 bond and $113,000 per year fund to cover maintenance and operations costs. The money would be raised through increased property taxes, which would roughly cost $79 per year for the average county property value of $137,500.

"Your property taxes will go up," Hardy said. "We're not in favor of raising taxes, but regardless of which direction we go…we have got to pay for fire protection. It doesn't matter if it's Honeyville, Corrine, Brigham City, Tremonton, they can't run those fire departments for nothing."

According to Hardy, the district will provide much better fire coverage for the majority of residents living within the district, although he did concede that a few northern Elwood residents may end up further away from a fire station than they were with Tremonton's coverage. However, plans are to keep the stations currently operating in Honeyville and Corinne, and build two new stations that would provide better coverage to the northern end of the district.

"Due to the river, the railroad tracks and a few things, we decided that a station in Deweyville to cover Deweyville and Collinston in very important. We also realized we need a station and equipment in the Bear River City/Elwood area to cover those two communities," Hardy said. "There'll be closer fire protection. The district will have more equipment and training, and there will be four full functioning fire stations."

Hardy explained that Tremonton had originally made an offer that would cost Elwood just over $50 per resident to provide coverage. However, that figure didn't include what he called "soft costs," which are additional fees charged when the department responds to a fire. Hardy said the costs for a response are $945 for an engine and five firefighters, and $132 per engine after that and $11.75 per man hour. With the creation of the district, Hardy said those soft costs would be eliminated.

"Fire responses in this district will be covered by the district," he said. "The homeowners will not be directly billed for any fires. The response is collectively paid by the property taxes."

Last week, Tremonton city officials began circulating a letter that said Tremonton would charge the $50 per resident fee, but no soft costs to continue providing coverage to Elwood. Hardy said he didn't know about the letter until just a few days before the meeting, and was unsure why that offer never reached him until after the district was formed.

"The district was already formed and there was some offers made to us afterwards, and we don't know why those weren't made to us up front," Hardy said. "Most of those we haven't ever seen other than a letter that was distributed out here."

Corinne Mayor Richard Nimori added, "Lately, it seems like the bid that they're sending out is a little bit less than what they offered us at the very first, which is good business. But that tells me also that they could turn around and up it whenever they wanted, also."

Some residents questioned whether or not the response time within the district would be as fast as Tremonton, due to the fact that many of the volunteers may be working on their farms and in their fields when a call goes out. Nimori, however, said he doesn't think that will be too much of a problem.

"Don't think we don't share your concerns, that's one thing we did look at," he said. "(But) volunteer fire departments have been since fire departments have come to be. It's worked out great. It takes a special breed to become one of those types, and so they really are enthusiastic about performing functions. [Volunteer departments] have got wonderful support, and always have."

Other residents expressed concern over raised taxes and were fearful that the city would continue to raise them whenever it wanted to. Hardy, however, said that once the bond was paid off, it would be off the books.

"When you elect a bond, when that bond is paid off, you can't take that tax and use it for something else, that tax is gone," he said. "The only way you can replace it is you have another meeting like this and you rebond again."

Nimori added, "If we decided that we couldn't make do with the maintenance portion of the taxes, then we would have to have a public hearing and everything to go in and raise the taxes again, just like everybody does. Then you'll have a chance to go in and refute it or whatever. That's just like every other tax."

The fire district encompasses the cities of Honeyville, Deweyville, Corinne, Bear River City and Elwood and surrounding unincorporated areas. Residents within the district will have the opportunity to vote on the bond on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

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