Jump in medical calls pushes Benton County fire district’s levy request

Nearly 20,000 people rely on Benton County Fire District 1 ambulances to reach them during an emergency.

But the growing number of calls and rising costs are squeezing the district’s nearly $6 million budget.

Benton County Fire District 1 is asking voters on the Aug. 5 primary ballot to approve an increase of 22 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to meet the rising demand for services.

If approved, it would add about $884,000 to the district’s budget. The money would pay for three new firefighter positions, replace an aging ambulance and upgrade the Finley fire station. The agency is staffed by paid and volunteer firefighters.

The district primarily relies on property taxes to serve the 18,600 living in its 320-square-mile service area south of Kennewick and Richland — including Finley, Badger Canyon and the Rancho Reata area.

The fire district receives no funding from Benton County and, outside of property taxes, only gets a small amount of other money, according to budget documents.

Fire districts regularly need to ask voters for “levy lid lifts” because increased home construction and rising property valuations drive down tax rates and how much they collect in property taxes.

A fire district cannot collect more than $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

But new construction and rising home values has pushed that down to $1.28 per $1,000 of value for 2025. The 22-cent levy on the primary brings it back to the $1.50 rate.

The increase would add about $93 a year to the property taxes on a house valued at $422,500. — the average cost of a home in the district. The total annual tax bill for that home would be about $634.

Increasing costs of service

The fire district is dealing with the same inflation as the rest of the nation, but its equipment costs a lot more than the average car, explained officials.

They point out a fire engine that cost $600,000 in 2018 now is $1 million.

The cost of insurance has more than doubled and the amount they pay for the regional dispatch center has risen by 86%.

The increased expenses are playing out against a background of a growing number of calls at the population grows, the district said. The number of medical calls, which make up the majority of calls, rose by 58% over six years.

The district’s ambulance service, which started about five years ago, fills a need for people living in the district, which used to rely on the availability of other departments, Fire Chief Scott LoParco said in a video explaining the levy lid lift.

“As call volumes rise, we need more personnel and equipment to keep pace,” LoParco said.

The combination of those factors puts a strain on the services they provide and could affect the area’s rating by the Washington Survey and Ratings Bureau. The nonprofit provides ratings for how prepared fire departments are for fires in their areas.

Insurance companies use these ratings as part of determining how much home insurance residents in those districts must pay.

▪ An informational meeting on the levy is planned at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 26 at Station 170, at 101108 E. Badger Road.