Vote Yes on Measures 9-158 and 9-159: Five-Year Local Option Levies for fire-emergency medical services

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In 2014, voters in Bend and Deschutes County approved levies for the fire services in Bend and the rural county, which helped to reduce the time it took firefighters and emergency services to get to places where their help was needed. Taxpayers in Bend and rural Deschutes County have seen a levy of 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on their property tax bills since then – levies that are set to expire in 2024. When those expire, Bend Fire & Rescue and the Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District are asking for a new, increased levy of 76 cents per $1,000 of assessed value – which amounts to roughly $19 per month for someone whose home is valued at $300,000 – the average taxable assessed value in the city. (Keep in mind that Oregon homes tend to be assessed at a far lower rate than the market value due to laws set in place in the 1990s.)

We think this is an investment worth paying for.

With a growing city and county come the need for more services – some of which fall, like it or not, on emergency responders. These crucial members of our community respond to medical emergencies and car crashes, help with water rescues and respond to not just structure fires, but wildland fires, too. They also respond to emergencies among the houseless community.

Two of Bend Fire's stations spend roughly 20% of their time responding to calls at either Hunnell Road or the area around the Lighthouse Navigation Center, Fire Chief Todd Riley told us. Right now, some of the positions that help maintain reasonable response times – six minutes in the city and nine minutes in the rural county – are funded through American Rescue Plan dollars – dollars that will go away in June 2024. Bend and Deschutes County, among the fastest-growing areas in the nation, need an increase in staff, not a reduction. So in addition to keeping staffing at the level it is now, these levies would help support the addition of 10 more staff. Now is not the time to see their numbers dwindle, but grow so that all of us can depend on fast responses in an emergency. Vote Yes on Measures 9-158 and 9-159.



Editor's note: The original graphic for this story read "May 23, 2023." It's since been changed to "May 2023" to indicate the month and year of the election. The date of the May election is May 16, 2023.  In addition, the print edition lists 75, not 76 cents, as the proposed levy rate. We regret the errors.