SPRINGFIELD – Voters in November will have the option to vote for a five-year fire and life-safety services plan aimed at maintaining and improving the city’s level of emergency response.
If approved, the levy will help pay for staff and equipment for one of the five engine crews, maintain a faster response time – seven minutes and 19 seconds now – and fund seven full-time equivalent firefighters and paramedics.
Ballot Measure 20-371 proposes a five-year levy of $0.53 per $1,000 of assessed value, effective July 2026 — an increase of $0.15 over the current levy. The current levy of $0.38 per $1,000 assessed value expires in June 2026.
This measure may result in property taxes increasing by more than 3%. For a home with an assessed value of $189,000, the annual cost would be approximately $100.
Fire and life safety services in Springfield are provided through five strategically placed fire stations throughout the city, ensuring rapid response. One fire crew is assigned to each fire station. Each fire crew also serves as the first paramedic response unit, dispatched with an ambulance, to all life-threatening emergency medical calls for service.
In Fiscal Year 2024, there were 8,138 medical calls, 774 fire calls, 1,778 public assistance calls, and 8,483 transports in Springfield.
Springfield voters passed special operating levies for fire and life safety services in 2002, ’06, ’10, ’15, and ’20.
During a Springfield city council meeting Sept. 2, roughly 40 members of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 851 gave public testimony about concerns of the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department’s workload. At the meeting, Daniel Allred, the union’s vice president, spoke to the increase in response times and the decrease in resources.
If the measure does not pass, there will be no continued levy to fund one of the five fire engine crews. For a home with an assessed value of $189,000, property taxes would be reduced by approximately $63.32 when the current levy expires in June 2026.
