View Bond Issue updates
On September 14th, 2004, District voters approved a $5.9 million dollar capital improvement bond
that will provide essential apparatus, facilities and training
improvements, critical to meet current and future needs of the
community. The bond issue was placed on the ballot upon
the recommendation of the District Citizen Advisory Board who
represented
stakeholders throughout the District. These
recommendations were provided following nine months of fact finding and evaluation
of the Districts strategic plan, response capabilities, growth
projections, apparatus, facilities and fiscal resources.
How
will the Fire District be using the funds?
-
Headquarters - Mud
Bay Station: The Fire District will replace the
42-year-old headquarters station with a new station on a
larger site. These improvements will provide the
necessary sleeping, living, classroom, parking and training
space needed to support department operations.
Training grounds located in the core of the District at the
new headquarters station will greatly reduce the need for
off-site training, keeping our highly trained firefighters
readily available to respond. A Class
A Fire Engine,
Pumper/Tender and Rescue unit will be purchased for this
station. This will provide the department with the
required number of fire engines and will allow the District
to remove aging, high mileage apparatus from primary service
by placing them in a backup or secondary response
role.
-
Cooper Point
Station: Community parking will be provided at
this station through the purchase of a small parcel of land
adjacent to the station. The station will receive
cosmetic remodeling and energy efficiency upgrades to ensure
a safe, cost effective living quarters for response
personnel. A new Class A Fire Engine, equipped with a
thermal imaging camera, will be placed at this
station.
-
36th Ave - Butler
Cove Station: This station will receive limited remodeling and energy efficiency upgrades to ensure a safe,
cost effective living quarters for response personnel.
A Class A Fire Engine will be moved into this station (No Class A
Fire Engine currently exists).
-
Summit Lake
Station: The Summit Lake station will be replaced
with a new station located on property donated by Simpson
Timber. The new station will dramatically improve
response times to the Summit Lake area by providing the
space needed to house additional
Resident/Firefighters. A backup water tender will be
housed at this station.
How
much will this cost each homeowner?
Each household will be assessed $.35 per thousand
for each $1000.00 of assessed valuation. A $200,000 home
will pay an additional $70.00 per year.
What efforts has the District made to ensure
these funds will be spent wisely?
We've sought outside input!
A Citizen Advisory Board, made up of volunteer members for the
community, conducted a thorough review of our operations and
concluded that a bond was necessary to mitigate the identified
deficiencies and provide the essentials critical to meeting the
current and future emergency response needs of the
community.
We've done
our homework! Countless hours have been spent analyzing data, trends, internal and external requirements in
order to determine the most efficient, cost effective manner in
which to provide excellent service.
We've developed Partnerships! We've
diligently pursued partnerships with neighboring jurisdictions
to provide our citizens greater value and to establish a win-win
situation for all taxpayers. We intend to partner with
Thurston County for the acquisition of land for the new
headquarters station; with the City of Olympia in the
development of our training facility and Simpson Timber for the
donation of land for the Summit Lake project. Each of
these partnerships enhances the value of every dollar spent by
District residents.
Capital Improvement Research and Functional
Program document available
Also available for review
is the Districts Capital Improvement Research and Functional
Program report. This document contains the research and
functional programming utilized in the development of the
capital improvement plan. This document it is available for viewing
at our
headquarters station or may downloaded from our web site. Click
here to download
your personal copy.
|
