Bend Fire Dept. may ask voters next year for new levy to add staff, maintain response times

(Update: Adding video, comments)

Fire Chief Todd Riley tells city councilors community survey is planned early in new year

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Next fall, Bend voters could be asked to pass a new property tax levy, to add firefighter-medics and keep vital response times from slowing in the growing city.

One goal would be to try and get firefighters staffing Bend Fire and Rescue's relatively new, 10,000-square-foot Pilot Butte station which was completed in January 2020.

The city's sixth fire station cost nearly $4 million and was set up to house nine firefighters, ambulances and an engine.

The issue?

It's lacking perhaps the most critical component - firefighters.

During Wednesday's city council meeting, Fire Chief Todd Riley said the department can't afford a full-time staff and engine because they've maxed out their $32 million annual budget.

So in an effort to staff the substation, Riley is working with the city to consider presenting voters with a higher tax levy on the November 2022 ballot, or possibly in early 2023.

Riley told councilors the department is responding to more calls with the same number of staff, which will only cause response times to go up.

Bend voters have seen a similar situation before. Back in 2014, voters were presented a local option levy, which ultimately passed.

Its passage allowed the department to add staffing around the city while also financing the implementation of a two-tiered emergency response system. It helped to boost the patient resuscitation rate from 20% to 70%, which has since dropped back to 55%, Riley said.

It could cost roughly $1.3 million to fund the nine firefighter-paramedic positions available, but even if a levy passed, the agency likely would not get the added property tax funds and be able to staff the station until 2024.

Riley assured councilors the presentation was only informational at this point in time, and nothing will be asked of the council until the department receives community feedback in a survey expected to begin next month, to help guide its path and plans.

In other action, councilors also reviewed a revised set of policies for clean-up and possible removal of homeless camps in the city rights of way, for public safety and other serious concerns, agreeing that city staff can take such steps without advance council approval.

The revised process was given a nod of councilors' heads with a few changes, and with an assurance that councilors will be notified by staff of new locations with issues, and when such cleanup or later removal actions are planned.

Councilor Megan Perkins and City Manager Eric King said the revised process for cleanup or potential right of way removals does not mean any imminent large-scale camp removals are planned at this time.

""I'm going to wrap this up with a public plea here," Perkins said. "If you don't like what you see, help us find a shelter. Say yes. And that's the only way you will things change around here. Otherwise, we're just kicking the cans down the road." 

Councilor Rita Schenkelberg voiced her displeasure with city staffers showing images from homeless camps, saying the pictures are "intrusive" for showing what in essence are people's "homes." Assistant City Manager Russell Grayson says the issue is difficult because the camps are in public view and a public right of way.

Toward the end of the last meeting of the year, City Manager Eric King gave a salute to the city's IT, Finance and other staff for hand-entering and recreating holiday payroll data, as the city was among the many victims worldwide of a ransomware attack on a widely used human resources software called Kronos. St. Charles Health System confirmed to NewsChannel 21 earlier this week that it, too, was hit by the problems, but was able to run its payroll on time.