Knappa OR Voters to Fund Fire Apparatus

The Knappa-Svensen-Burnside Rural Fire Protection District (OR) is looking to replace two antiquated pieces of firefighting apparatus through a public measure.

Voters are being asked to pay $695,000 in additional property taxes to finance a new fire engine and water tender.

The fire protection district’s current fire engine is 30 years old and the pump failed in 2011. The water tender is 35 years old and the tank is rusting.

Bonds would mature in 10 1/2 years or less from issuance and be issued in one or more series. The estimated average annual cost of this measure, if issued as a 7 1/2-year bond, would be .57 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 with a growth rate of 2.5 percent per year is estimated to pay $96.77 a year for such a bond.

An identical measure to buys the sam two vehicles did not pass in May.

The fire chief said that refurbishing the two existing vehicles — they must both meet the standards of the National Fire Protection Association — would cost two-thirds as much as buying new variants.

The district tries to use its own budget to purchase smaller items, but that acquiring large firefighting vehicles is too expensive to do in-budget. It has secured grants for jaws of life, protective clothing, air packs, rescue vehicles, brush vehicles and wildland equipment.

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