South Metro Fire Rescue Chief John Curtis says the passage of a tax levy in last week’s election will allow the Denver-area fire department to maintain staffing levels, avoid cuts, and prepare for continued growth across its service area.
“We're confident [that] into the future, this security that's been given to us by our community will allow us to make sure that we're adapting to their needs and keeping up with that call volume and growth,” Curtis said.
Ballot Issue 7A passed 55.6 percent to 44.4 percent on Nov. 4.
The department’s board of directors is now reviewing how best to implement the new budget as South Metro moves toward long-term financial stability. The measure adds three mills to the district’s property tax rate, generating roughly $50 million a year, which is the projected budget shortfall caused by the passage of House Bill 24B-1001.
The new funding comes as South Metro, which covers parts of Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, faces increased demand. Calls for service are up more than 24 percent in the last five years.
Curtis said the funding means the department will no longer need to eliminate roughly 100 members as projected earlier this year. Additionally, the new funding will help South Metro address attrition and reduce burnout among firefighters. “The burden of the call is still there. We’re still running 50,000-plus calls annually,” he said. “We would’ve had to do that with less people if that didn’t pass… [That’s] more overtime, more time they probably would rather be at home. This funding allows us to keep up with hiring and new academies to help continue to balance out that work-life stress burnout rate.”
While 7A passed comfortably, nearly 71,000 people voted against it. Curtis said he understands residents’ sensitivity to tax increases.
“To the population that voted no, we certainly respect where they were coming from,” he said. “But I think it’s easy for me to talk about our transparency and really the focus on making sure that the community members that live in our district as well as the visitors that frequent South Metro’s district will be well taken care of into the future… that we’re able to maintain the current services that we provide, and that we’re able to adapt and provide the scalability into the future.”
Curtis said the new funding also helps sustain mutual aid relationships with neighboring departments that are still under financial strain.
“We’ve already established those well-working relationships,” he said. “We’re already continuing to provide not only a close unit response, but assistance into the borders of those agencies that surround us.”
Statewide, 82 percent of departments surveyed in a recent fire service assessment said they don’t anticipate adequate funding over the next two years. Curtis hopes lawmakers will take a closer look at how recent property tax legislation has impacted fire districts in January.
“If there’s any message to legislators, it’s certainly taking a look at what the effects were of [House Bill] 1001,” he said. “While certainly it’s providing relief for members of our community, which we certainly appreciate, some of the backend challenges of that, was funding those fire departments that rely heavily on property taxes.”
Inside the department, Curtis described the mood as one of “happiness and relief.”
“We’ve been very forward about what the implications were if this were to be a vote that didn’t go in our direction,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to sustain that over the next decade. We need to do right with this money… It’s a significant appropriation that the community decided to vote in our favor, and we need to do right by that.”
Curtis said the funding will also allow South Metro to move forward with long-term infrastructure and capital plans, including building new fire stations to meet growth.
“When we look at our long-term needs, we’re able to now allocate dollars towards funding fire stations, keeping up with that growth, maintaining response times, being quick and efficient,” he said. “This is South Metro’s intention to adapt to those needs… to provide what we’re here for — and that’s to take care of our communities.”
