Voters reject Evergreen Fire levy request

Voters in the Evergreen Fire District rejected a tax levy request Tuesday that would have increased funding for Evergreen Fire Rescue.

The Flathead County Election Department tallied the mail ballots, with 953 in support of the measure and 1,222 against.

Evergreen Fire trustees voted in January to float the levy request of 70.63 mills, beginning at about $1.15 million and increasing by 3 percent per year. The levy would have increased property taxes on a home within the district by $168 annually for a home valued at $200,000.

The levy would have replaced the current levy set to expire on June 30, 2019. The current levy costs about $35 annually for the owner of a home valued at $200,000.

In a previous interview with the Inter Lake, Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams said the tax increase was necessary to fund additional staffing and equipment upgrades. He noted that the district has experienced a 224 percent increase in call volume over the past decade, while tax revenue remained static.

According to Evergreen Fire officials, the current EMS staff funding provides enough to compensate for two people per day, and doesn’t include health care or retirement coverage. Due to this, some Evergreen Fire representatives said the department is turning into a “training facility” with a high rate of turnover.

The extra revenue from the levy would have allowed emergency personnel to become available to community members on a more consistent basis, trustee John Faust said.

Trustee Jack Fallon was one of the voices against the proposal. In a letter to the Daily Inter Lake, Fallon said he didn’t believe “the proposed burden of increased labor costs, health insurance and retirement are the answer today. Can all this be done for less? Yes. But, it will take the community of Evergreen to work together to arrive at the added cost.”

He said the mill levy proposal needed to be reworked and brought back to the voters.