Support: Measure #20-383

One good exercise for determining how you spend your money is this: Is this expense a “nice-to-have” or a “must-have”? We actually do this all the time. That simple assessment in our heads often saves us from that “impulse buy” at the checkout counter.

The same concept is true when considering how tax dollars should be spent.
Make no mistake. The fire levy is a “must-have” in every sense.

The Chronicle has reported on the financial hardships across virtually all departments in all of our cities and towns. The residents understand that tough times require tough choices. “Quality-of-life” expenditures are experiencing – what everyone hopes are temporary – reductions. Workforce ebbs and flows, along with demand, and budgets.

Tightening our belts is one thing. Austerity is not the answer when it comes to our collective welfare.

Emergency medical technicians save lives daily. The mere threat of wildfires hangs in the air for the next five months like a thick fog. And when that threat becomes reality, our firefighters risk their lives to ensure our own. How do you put a price on that?

The levy tries. It would increase the District’s current levy to $0.94 per $1,000 of accessed property value. A homeowner with a median home assessed at $198,639 would pay about $15.56 per month – or less than $200 a year.

John Wooten, South Lane Fire County Fire & Rescue chief, said the money would pay for six full-time positions and one additional apprentice.

The District’s call volume has increased by 62% since 2014. In 2025, SLCF&R had 5,231 requests for service – an average of 14.3 per day. Of those requests, 80% of the time there were overlapping calls, meaning more than one request for service at the same time, which can leave no one available to respond.

It is in the best interest of those living in Cottage Grove, Creswell, and the surrounding areas to vote YES on Measure #20-383.

South Lane County Fire & Rescue info page:
southlanefire.org/levy-measure-2026