October 6, 2011

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LOOK INSIDE:

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Reconsidering 9-11 PAGE 3

Speaking out on VCR

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What a table

the

Sopris Carbondale’s

weekly, non-profit newspaper

Sun

Volume 3, Number 34 | October 6, 2011

Howlin’ with the Rams

Roaring Fork High School students joined in with three howling wolves at the conclusion of a special assembly in the gym on Monday. The animals were brought in by the non-profits Mission:Wolf of Westcliff and SolTribe of the Roaring Fork Valley to teach students about wolves and wolf hybrids. SolTribe is soliciting students to join its Wolf Ambassador program, in which they will learn about wolves at Mission:Wolf’s sanctuary then give presentations in the Roaring Fork Valley. Photo by Lynn Burton

Fire district asking for mil levy override By Allyn Harvey Sopris Sun Correspondent

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arbondale’s firefighters are asking voters and residents in the Crystal Valley and greater Carbondale area for money and time to adjust to new economic realities. Specifically, the department will ask voters to authorize a mil levy override for the next two years that will allow the district to continue collecting property taxes at their current level. After two years, the override expires and tax rates return to original levels. If voters agree, the property taxes homeowners pay to the district will remain approximately the same as they currently are. “With the decrease in property value, the fire district portion of property taxes will go

down $70 on a $500,000 house,” explains Fire Chief Ron Leach. “We’re asking them to continue paying that $70 for two years, while we put together a master plan that is in line with the economy.” That will allow the district to collect $775,000 over the next two years, and keep its budgeting at current levels, thus avoiding staff cuts, elimination of some training programs and a reduction in medical response services. The Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District serves approximately 15,000 residents from six stations that cover a 320square-mile area from Marble and Redstone to Carbondale and surrounding areas of Garfield County. The department employs 20 fulltime employees who support 75 vol-

unteer fire fighters. A portion of the paid staff includes paramedics who are able to respond to calls 24 hours a day. In 2010, the department responded to 1,100 emergency calls. The district has 12 fire trucks and four advanced life support ambulances. The money, if approved, will be used to maintain existing levels of employment and service, which ranges from fighting fires and paramedic services to community education and a remote defibrillator program that puts the lifesaving device in key spots around the district. The override will also allow the district to continue its training programs, which keep employees and volunteers up to date on the latest techniques for fighting property and wild-land fires,

and mountain and swift-water rescue. “This two-year mil levy override buys us a little time to see what the economy is going to do, and make an appropriate master plan for the fire district that looks at both capital and operating needs and is responsive to the economic realities we face going forward,” Leach said. The chief says cuts will be necessary if the voters don’t OK the mil levy override. “If this question doesn’t pass, we’re not going to close the doors — we’ll still respond to and put out fires,” Leach said. But the organization will contract, response times will lengthen, equipment will get older and replacement schedules lengthened out, training will get cut and maintenance will be delayed.


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