Douglas County commissioners review Fire District 1 budget request

Douglas County commissioners spent a Wednesday work session weighing what Fire District 1 would deliver with its 2027 operating budget: the same 6.0-mill levy, or a larger tax bill for the district’s own property owners if leaders choose to expand staffing.

The proposal totals about $2.46 million, about 2% below the adopted 2026 budget, and district leaders are asking commissioners to keep looking at up to $1.29 million in additional funding for more personnel. The largest staffing option would add 4.10 mills, and any increase would apply only to properties inside the fire district, not countywide. With countywide assessed property values up 5.7% and the broader county levy already set at 40.669 mills, the debate now is less about the paper budget than about what level of emergency coverage residents are buying.

Consolidated Fire District No. 1 covers about 228 square miles in central and northern Douglas County, operates 10 fire stations and answers more than 1,000 calls a year. It serves rural Douglas County and the City of Lecompton, where response times, staffing depth and equipment readiness can shape how quickly crews get to a fire, medical emergency or rescue.

Chief John Mathis has told commissioners the district is under strain from declining volunteer availability, rising call demand, overlapping incidents, firefighter health and safety concerns, and limited supervisory and program-management capacity. A memo cited in the budget discussion said about 70% of service calls in 2025 received no volunteer response, a statistic that puts the staffing request at the center of the county’s decision. More paid coverage could improve consistency and supervision; holding the line on the budget would preserve the lower levy but leave the district relying on a thinner response model.

The district was formed in 2020 through the consolidation of township fire departments in Wakarusa, Eudora, Clinton and Lecompton townships, with Douglas County Resolution 20-25 establishing Consolidated Fire District No. 1 in June 2020. Commissioners have already been reviewing its needs for months. On Jan. 14, they were told the district had strengthened its full-time staffing, and on April 11 they discussed replacing a dozen high-risk district vehicles.

The July 1 session did not end with a final decision. But it made clear that the next budget choice will determine whether Fire District 1 keeps the same service footprint with a stable levy or pays to push toward more reliable coverage in the parts of Douglas County that depend on it most.