Larkspur fire district weighs tax hike to preserve current service levels

Larkspur Fire Protection District was weighing a November ballot ask that would cost the owner of a $500,000 home about $17.40 to $17.91 a month, depending on the option, as leaders tried to preserve current staffing, apparatus and emergency coverage in southern Douglas County.

Fire Chief Timothy McCawley said the district had spent months gathering public input on three paths. Doing nothing would leave funding unchanged, but he warned that inflation, heavier call volumes and rising expectations would make it harder to hold today’s service level. A 5.97-mill increase would bring in operating money and would add about $17.91 a month to a $500,000 home, while a package combining a 3.97-mill increase with a $4.5 million bond would cost about $17.40 a month and would let the district begin capital work sooner while also covering day-to-day costs.

The district serves about 110 square miles in southern Douglas County, where homes are spread out and the fire protection tax base is limited. It provides fire protection and emergency medical and ambulance service with a mix of volunteer and paid staff, a model that can be stretched quickly when wildfire risk, medical calls and rescue work pile up near Larkspur and the Pike National Forest.

McCawley framed the issue as a public-safety question, not a growth plan: the district wants the right people and equipment to arrive when a family is facing its worst day. That concern lands in a county where local fire agencies rely on a patchwork of support. Douglas County gave each of its six rural fire protection districts $100,000 in PILT funds in January 2026, and Colorado lawmakers last year gave fire and ambulance districts more authority to levy a local sales tax under certain conditions.

Larkspur Fire’s publicly elected five-member board has said it is considering ballot measure(s) for November and is asking taxpayers for input through a survey and a ballot calculator. The district’s records show this is not its first appeal to voters. In 2015, Douglas County ballot language showed a proposed 3.950-mill increase that would have raised the district’s total levy to 19.109 mills if approved.

The broader backdrop remains costly for fire agencies. A 2025 Denver7 report said Colorado fire departments need more than 2,000 firefighters and more than $25 million in equipment over the next two years, based on the state’s needs assessment survey. For Larkspur, the choice now is whether residents will pay a little more each month to keep response times, staffing and equipment from slipping.