South Lane County Fire District Returns to Ballot Seeking Levy Increase

Creswell resident Debbie Yee voted against South Lane County Fire and Rescue's last levy, then watched her mother's post-church fall depend on the chance presence of a captain and one firefighter who happened to be on duty. The experience sent her to the March 9 Creswell City Council meeting, where she described shifts running with only two firefighters covering both fire calls and EMT responses across the district's full service area, and offered a direct verdict: "I think we are in dire straits."

Measure 20-383, returning to the May 2026 ballot after a prior version did not pass, would replace the current expiring levy with a permanent local option rate of 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, exactly doubling the existing 47-cent rate. For a home assessed at the district median example of $198,639, the increase amounts to roughly $15.56 per month, or about $180 per year.

The operational gap behind the campaign is specific. Station 204 on Camas Swale Road sits entirely unmanned. The district's only ladder truck is housed at Station 201 in Cottage Grove; moving it to cover another area would strip the city of its sole aerial suppression resource. The two-person shifts Yee described cover a service footprint of 132 square miles for fire protection and 812 square miles for emergency medical services, handling more than 5,500 calls annually across a district that includes Cottage Grove, Creswell, and surrounding rural communities with a combined population exceeding 33,000.

The levy has run as a temporary local option since voters first approved it in 2012, with renewals passing in 2017 and 2022; the current version expires in 2027. Measure 20-383 would convert the recurring renewal into a permanent levy at the higher rate. District materials describe SLCFR as operating with one of the lowest permanent tax rates among fire districts in Oregon, a claim the Oregon Department of Revenue's taxing district data and the Oregon Fire District Directors Association can independently verify.

Opposition tracks two concerns that followed the prior failed campaign: tax fatigue in a district where voters have been asked to act three times since 2012, and questions about fiscal accountability for levy dollars. Yee acknowledged both in her council remarks, explaining that pandemic-era financial pressure and repeated increases drove her original no vote, before citing the staffing constraints she observed as the reason for her reversal.

SLCFR personnel are holding public meet-and-greet events ahead of the May election to walk residents through what a yes vote would fund; specific dates and locations can be confirmed directly with the district. If the measure passes, supporters argue it would allow the district to hire additional personnel, staff the vacant station on Camas Swale Road, and end the three-cycle renewal pattern that has brought levy questions back to South Lane County voters since 2012. If it fails, the district confronts a 2027 expiration with its current rate intact and its two-person shifts still running against an 812-square-mile EMS map.