Originally published in the April 19 issue of The Mountain-Ear Newspaper.

Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.

Recently, the Nederland Fire Protection District ladder truck blew out a tire as it negotiated the roundabout. It limped back to the station, it is so old it still had split rim style wheels. It cost $1,500 to replace the front tires and rims.

“It is a great truck,” says NFPD Chief Rick Dirr, “But it belongs in a museum.” The 1982 ladder truck is the oldest in the Ned fleet and Chief Dirr says it not an optimum age for an emergency response vehicle. With the recent and upcoming construction of tall buildings, the ladder truck is more needed than ever. It is just one of the aging vehicles that is responsible for responding to emergency calls.

Now, with the prospect of paying off the district’s 20-year loan, the opportunity to upgrade is here by extending the mill levy.

The bond to build Station 1 was approved in 1998, set into motion by then Chief Udo Sille and board member Scott Bruntjen. At that time, the department was located on

East Third Street in what was little more than a three-bay garage.

The vision was to get funding to build a new station and upgrade the Eldora station. A land swap deal was reached with the town turning over the old school bus property to the district and moving their work shop into the green garage. This put the fire department on the highway with easy access.

At that time, Dirr was the Assistant Chief and he says the premise for the new building was to have crew quarters, a place with room for vehicles and apparatus and a place conducive for volunteers to gather during shift work, with a kitchen, living room and bunks. Out of over 10 designs offered, the board chose the brick building to indicate the stability of government, to match the post office exterior and to avoid the trendy looks that were presented.

“Station 1 was to be an anchor in the community. Some people had negative comments, calling it the Taj Mahal, but now after 20 years, it still fits the mission. The original bond was for $1.85 million and we worked her at cost cutting to stay within the budget.”

The residents approved the 20-year bond with a variable mill levy to meet payment requirements. In 2008, the mill was increased to hire three career firefighters, who are now all Paramedics. In March of 2000, the first paid Chief, Rick Dirr, was hired. This was a big deal for the Ned Fire District, but the career employees still earn 25-40 percent less than the Boulder Rural Fire District.

Dirr says that the present Fire staff has a great sense of the Nederland community and what works for them, which is invaluable, and he wants to keep them. Adjusting their pay to be competitive with other districts is one good way to ensure their continuing service, to keep them close to home where they are needed in times of emergency.

“We want to keep these guys, people with local ties and the desire to serve Nederland.”

Ballots have been sent out to district residents with ballot issues 5A, 5B and 5C, asking for approval to continue the mill levy to make up for dwindling resources, which has occurred over the past 20 years. The ballots must be sent in by May 8.

*Since 2007, Fire Department revenue has been frozen from all commercial properties within the DDA, resulting in a $151,000 loss in revenues for the district.

*The United States Forest Service, Boulder County, Boulder Valley School District, the Town of Nederland and other government entities are exempt from property taxes, even though the they generate a significant call load for the department.

*The USFS also has a deficit in their budget and they depend on local fire department for first response on federal lands.

*Although the NFPD has succeeded in securing grants, most of these require matching funds, which has depleted the district savings.

*Additional income would allow the district to expand incentives for employees and volunteers.

*Funds are needed to upgrade equipment to allow for continued focus on the safety of your life, family, home, community and the firefighters who respond to the calls.

Voting to approve the ballot issues will allow Ned Fire to retain the funds previously used to pay for station construction and maintain a consistent revenue level that will allow the District to continue a high level of service and provide matching grant funds without a tax increase.

If the bond is approved, Dirr says that the funding coming in 2019 will take the pressure off trying to maintain equipment on a much-reduced budget. “We could stop buying used equipment, putting bandaids on broken stuff, adjust wages and benefits and have some breathing room. Right now, we can’t replace a 26-year-old generator we need.”

What the bond means is that residents will continue paying what they have been paying, which averages about $65 on a $300,000 residence. In 2018, the Residential

Assessment Rate was reduced from 7.96 percent to 7.2 percent, causing a significant loss of revenue to NFPD. The RAR is projected to be reduced to 6.11 percent which would mean an additional loss of $67, 000 for the department.

Dirr says these cuts are caused by the Gallagher Amendment, which is a constitutional measure adopted in 1982 that limits the growth on residential property taxes to no more than 45 percent. This means that while the residential assessment rate is reduced, resulting in less income, the income received from commercial properties within the

DDA is frozen at 2007 levels.

Dirr says the obvious solution is a statewide constitutional amendment that either reverses or modifies Gallagher. It is unlikely this will take place this year.

Nederland Fire has gone as far as it can go on the existing budget. The department will continue to work on grants to pay for upgrades in equipment and gear, but it will need the cash flow for match funding.

Dirr says he is proud of what Nederland Fire has achieved in the past 20 years, but looks forward to the day that the District is not having to replace fire equipment through Ebay and has funding that allow them to replace older trucks in order to continue to safely provide emergency services to the community.