By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – May 7, 2021 Nearly everyone affected by the decision of the Crescent Fire Protection District to pursue another effort at passage of a increased fire assessment on property taxes has now received both their ballot and the information pamphlet that arrived with it. Confused, baffled, or bewildered, do not despair. In a three part series the CCTimes will make an effort to clear away the cobwebs and try to make sense of it all. To start with, using information from both the Crescent Fire Protection District's own Chief, Bill Gillespie, the District's Ten Year Master Plan, and multiple other sources the CCTimes will walk through examples of how the new assessment will affect various parcels in different situations in the district's area of responsibility. It will be followed by an examination of how the funding if received might be spent(new services, equipment maintenance, new employees, etc.) in an over view of the District's current Ten Year Master Plan. This plan can be viewed by the public by going to the District's Web site and pressing the "button" titled "Master Plan". All sixty four pages should be revealed to your reading pleasure. The series will conclude with an overview of potential positives for the district's parcel holders and some of the many reasons for concern by actual parcel owners over the decision by the CFPD. In the district's voter pamphlet it is explained that a portion of the District's funding currently comes from two previously passed parcel assessments of $24 and $18. The $18 assessment is due to sunset and will no longer appear on the property tax bills of the parcel owners in the CFPD's zone of responsibility. In other words the assessment on your property tax bill will decline from $42 to $24. The current effort by CFPD is to replace the expiring $18 with an increased and more permanent amount of $74 for single family residences. Other properties which for example may consist of 284 single family occupied apartments in an apartment complex would pay the $74 per unit up to a cap of $1000. A great boon offered to that particular owner as 284 single and individually owned residences would contribute over $21,000 to the district. Other properties such as a large commercial businesses or a warehouse would similarly cap out at $1,000. It likely would not benefit an owner whose property portfolio consisted of 37 individual single family rentals on individual parcels. His or her assessment would be 37 X $74 or $2738. I guess it pays to be the "Big Dog" in this situation. There are two other issues that should be mentioned in that if the benefit assessment were to pass, there is no sunset. It will continue to find it's way on your property tax bill until a vote is taken to remove the assessment. Another thing to be aware of is that there is no provision for parcel owners living under much reduced financial conditions. Something to keep in mind in this time of the Pandemic where many exceptions were allowed in such circumstances. The benefit assessment must be paid by all parcel owners Initially, providing the new assessment passes, the CFPD has identified a number of pressing needs. They include the hiring of three Captain IIs(a governmental job identifier) sometime during the ten year future period which could set the District back any where from $132,000 and change for salary and benefits to a maximum of $154,000 (per Master Plan) and change depending on the quality of the candidate and surrounding circumstances. The new hires are proposed in an ambitious plan of converting the District's Washington Street Station into a 24 hour, six day rotation of continuous on duty response teams enabling the District to service its calls in a immeasurably faster time frame thereby with the potential of saving a future life. The District is also wishing to stabilize its over all maintenance plan for both vehicles and equipment, as well as to be able to plan for future rehabilitation dollars that would need to be spent on the District's buildings. As for the past few years the department's dollar needs have out stripped it's income, there is a need to restore a comfortable reserve and plan for big ticket items such as new fire trucks or the replacement of the roof on the Washington Street Station. As with anything when it comes to year to year budgets, it is very seldom the case where costs decline. Plans for volunteer outreach, continuous new training requirements, and new government regulations will likely also affect the future budget's bottom line. The District also warns that without continuous maintenance of current services the District's over all rating could decline, which may affect certain insurance plans. Of course this is but a brief overview of the District's position on the benefit assessment, and the CCTimes would encourage all parcel holders in the District to carefully read the voting pamphlet supplied with your ballot. For those that wish to learn more, the Ten Year Plan is not some mysterious verbiage that no one can understand and is easily accessed on the District's web site. As a final resort, Chief Bill Gillespie, the District's answer man will be happy to respond to questions parcel owners may wish to ask, and … if he doesn't know the answer he will find out for you in a timely manner. On to Part Two' a brief description of the District's Ten Year plan for those that do not wish to read all sixty four pages and other important information to be found in the final part of this series, Part Three…..