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Price outlines county ballot measure to fund volunteer fire departments with two-mill tax
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Summary
Senator Price told the committee his measure would place a two-mill tax on the November ballot for one county to support 11 volunteer fire departments, with municipalities and water authorities that have paid fire departments able to opt out; the committee gave the bill a favorable recommendation.
Senator Price told the Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Safety committee that SB3.0959 is "basically like a local piece of legislation" for one county and would place a two-mill tax on the November ballot to raise funding for volunteer fire departments. Price said the measure allows municipalities and water authorities that already maintain paid fire departments to opt out of the charge and identified 11 volunteer fire departments in the county that would receive funds.
A committee member asked whether future annexations by municipalities would automatically change which areas are covered. Price said the annexation question was valid and could be fine-tuned but that he did not expect it to be a problem in the near term. The transcript records Price noting the measure would allow an exemption for areas that already have paid firefighters and that the countywide vote would be on the ballot in November.
Members moved and seconded a favorable recommendation; the chair later announced that this and other bills had been given a favorable report. The transcript does not include a separate roll-call vote for SB3.0959; the committee handled it as part of a consolidated package of favorable reports.
