Ballot Title
Caption: Five-Year Local Option Tax for Fire & Ambulance Operations
Question: Shall the District create a new five-year levy of $1.70 per $1000 of assessed value for five years beginning 2027-2028?
This measure creates new local option taxes which may cause property taxes to increase more than three percent.
Summary: The taxes will be used to meet the expenses Burlington Water District pays for emergency services (Fire and Ambulance)and to maintain a contingency fund for the future increased expenses.
An estimate of the total amount to be raised each fiscal year is:
$84,420 in 2027-2028
$86,953 in 2028-2029
$89,561 In 2029-2030
$92,248 In 2030-2031
$95,016 in 2031-2032
The estimated tax cost for this measure is an ESTIMATE ONLY based on the best information available from the county assessor at the time of the estimate and may reflect the impact of early payment discounts, compression and the collection rate. A property with an assessed value of $166,000.00, the average assessed value for the district, will pay an estimated $24 per month in additional property taxes.
Explanatory Statement: Because you live within the Burlington Water District, emergency services (fire and ambulance) for you, your family and your property come from the City of Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau through a contract with the District. Those fire and ambulance services are paid for with tax revenue from properties within the District boundaries.
Costs for emergency services within the District have risen faster than has property tax income. Emergency service costs have gone up 10 percent per year over the past four years, nearly twice the average increase in property taxes you pay. The District has no funding source other than property tax revenue to pay for emergency services. If approved the ballot measure would authorize an additional tax levy of $1.70 per $1,000 of assessed value to cover those rising costs for emergency services. This levy request has no impact on the District’s core function of providing water, nor on the rates the District charges for water.
Approving the levy would supplement the existing $3.4269 permanent rate and would raise an estimated average of $87,029 annually for five years. The average assessed value for a property in the taxing district is $166,000. For such an average property, the current monthly cost for emergency services is $47. The requested levy option would add $24 per month for an average total cost of $71 per month. Median property values are lower than the average. The proposed rate would increase property taxes by $11 for the median property with an assessed value of $77,000.
These taxes are collected by Multnomah County and cannot be used for anything other than emergency services within the Burlington Water District.
Submitted by:
Richard T. Lovett, Board Chairman
Burlington Water District