South Metro Fire Board Says Rising EMS Demand, Costs Create $50M Annual Gap; Offers Property- or Sales-tax Options

South Metro Fire Rescue officials told Littleton City Council members on May 13 that the district faces steadily rising operating and capital costs driven by increased emergency medical responses, inflation on equipment and long apparatus lead times, and service expansion into new growth areas. "We have identified 2 different revenue solutions, each of which would generate about $50,000,000 a year," said Jim, a South Metro Fire board member, summarizing options under consideration.

The presentation, delivered by South Metro board members and staff including Stephanie Corbeau and Fire Chief Bob Baker, said the district covers about 300 square miles and nearly 600,000 residents, operates 30 stations with roughly 800 personnel, and handled about 52,000 calls last year. Officials said roughly two-thirds of calls are EMS-related and that call volume rose about 20% from 2019 to 2024; fire calls represented about 1% of incidents over that five-year span.

Nut graf: The district says its current…