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Central Point votes on service districts Fire protection, sewer service focus of key election decisions in Sept. 19 mail-in election By Buffy Pollock CENTRAL POINT � Voters will decide whether the city should join special districts for fire protection and sewer service during the Sept. 19 special election. Ballots will be mailed out today and must be returned to the county Elections Department by 8 p.m. election day. The city has been contracting with Fire District 3 and Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority for services since it disbanded its fire and sewer departments in 1996. The five-year contracts require separate citizen votes on annexation into the districts before the contracts expire next year. Annexation likely won�t change sewer rates, but it may nearly double the rate residents pay for fire protection. And it raises the question again of whether Central Point should have its own fire department. "This is not a simple issue," said Mayor Bill Walton. "If we were to build a fire department in the city, it would cost a million dollars to build the station and a million more each year for 14 full-time personnel. "District 3 is already providing protection for the whole area," he added. When Central Point first contracted with Fire District 3, it gave its fire equipment � including two engines � to the district in exchange for lower service rates. But if the city annexes into the district, state law requires that everyone pay the same rate. That means Central Point residents� rates would increase from $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed value to somewhere between $2.65 and $2.75. "Now that the five-year contract will be coming to an end, it�s time for the people to decide if they want to continue to have the fire protection they are used to," said Randy Iverson, fire chief for District 3. "We�re already providing full protection and that will be continued if annexation is approved," he said. At least one resident believes other options should be considered. Retired fire captain Dick Halley, who is running for the City Council in the November election, accused District 3 of trying to create the illusion that it was the only option available to Central Point. "When you look at all the signs Jackson County 3�s got all over the place, it looks like if you don�t vote for them you lose it all. Somehow we need to make it known there are other choices," said Halley. Halley spent 10 years with the city fire department in the years before it was disbanded, retiring at the rank of captain. He said the department added something positive to the community as well as encouraged good fire management and education. He said the decision to disband the city�s fire department was unwise to begin with. "When all this was changed it was a political thing and had nothing to do with what people wanted. Now they are trying to figure out how to provide the service that the station they already had was providing," he said. "If I�d known all the particulars of the deal when it was going on, I�d been down there fighting tooth and nail." Walton acknowledged some residents are adamant about having their own fire department, but he said they may not realize the cost. "When we did have our own, it cost about $400,000 (a year)," he said. "That was the early �90s and most of the staff was volunteers. People seem to think we can do it for the same price. "When you�re talking about a new station now, you are talking about a million dollars. ... It�s a hard one to call," said Walton. On the other hand, the sewer issue is a bit simpler, said City Administrator Jim Bennett. "Just about everybody�s in favor of it," he said. Annexing into BCVSA will not cause residents a noticeable rate increase, and service will basically remain the same. If the sewer annexation is rejected, however, the city will be forced to repay about $1.5 million in upgrades that BCVSA made to the city�s sewer system, and it will have to decide whether to contract with BCVSA or another agency or re-establish its own sanitation department. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA