On April 25 as part of a special election, voters within Fire District 10 will be asked to vote on a levy lid lift. The measure seeks to raise property taxes from the current 69 cents per $1,000 to $1 per $1,000. The increased funding would go toward paying for full-time staffing.
The district covers 64 square miles of rural homes in the northeast corner of Clark County. Right now, the district says it can’t pay for firefighters to be on duty around the clock. Part of the reason is because Fire District 10 currently has the second lowest tax rate of all fire districts in Clark County.
“We ran 731 calls in 2015 and 728 calls last year. It’s very hard to cover all of those calls with an essentially volunteer staff,” said Battalion Chief Gordon Brooks.