City officials will have to find another way to improve firefighter and paramedic response time after voters, for the second time in six months, last week defeated a tax increase for the Fire Department.
Issue 7, a 2-mill levy, would have generated about $3.3 million a year for the fire department, which would have hired up to 20 additional firefighter-paramedics. It would have cost homeowners $70 a year for each $100,000 of property valuation. “Obviously, we are disappointed with the results, but we have to respect the wishes of the voters,” Fire Chief Jack Draves said. “However, we believe we ran a strong campaign to educate the residents and show them how the levy would have improved services and reduced response times in the city.
“Rest assured, we will continue to provide high-quality fire and EMS services to the community,” Draves said. “We will have to re-evaluate our staffing, operations and all resources in the coming weeks and months.”