Build Another Fire Station--the Plan
Build and equip a 8000 square foot fire station for the SFPD on the northeast corner of Thomas Creek Road and Arrowcreek Parkway, on surplus land owned by Washoe County. The station would be built to already-existing standard fire station plans that the County uses, and would be built so that it could be easily expanded to accomodate a second engine company when the surrounding area is built-out enough to require that.
After the new station is completed, the staff presently at Station 38 on Mt. Rose Highway will move to it, and additional staff would be assigned to Station 39, on Joy Lake Road between St. James's Village and Galena Forest Estates. With these two staffed fire stations in the core area, the response times will be significantly reduced to all homes and businesses.
When this occurs, the Galena Volunteers, which own Station 38, will re-occupy it and provide effective volunteer response from it.
What It Will Cost
The cost to construct and equip the station was originally estimated at $3.5 million. Because of the lower construction costs in today's economy, this figure is closer to $2.1 million.
How to Pay for This
The developer of Arrowcreek donated a site for this station, but the site is directly across the street from an elementary school, which makes it unsuitably dangerous for use for a fire station. The developer has tentatively agreed to sell the site and split the proceeds with Sierra Fire. This would provide a portion, but not all, of the required funds.
To fund the remainder,the District is applying for Federal stimulus money. If that funding becomes available, no local funds would be needed. If the stimulus funding is not avaialbe, there are multiple other options that the District plans to pursue, including sharing costs with Truckee Meadows FPD (since the station would also serve part of that fire district), and the establishment of a special assessment district (which requires voter approval).
Your Part of the Cost, Worst Case
The total assessed value in the area that would be a part of the special improvement district is $1358 million. To raise two million dollars over a period of five years would require a tax of five cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. The table below shows what you and I would pay for this additional protection, given that we know what our home's assessed value is.
Assessed Value |
Yearly tax |
Total (5 year) tax |
$100,000 |
$30 |
$150 |
$150,000 |
$45 |
$225 |
$200,000 |
$60 |
$300 |
$300,000 |
$90 |
$450 |
Sunset the Tax!
A unique feature of this proposed special improvement district is that after the station is built it will disappear and the nickel per hundred dollars will no longer appear on your tax bill. This is a provision of the district, and cannot be changed except by approval of the residents, which means that the tax cannot be continued and designated to pay for any other County purpose unless we all agree in another election to do that!
A Partnership to Pay for Staff
Currently, Sierra is NOT reimbursed for responding into Truckee Meadows, nor is Truckee Meadows reimbursed for responding into Sierra. We propose a partnership between Truckee Meadows and Sierra. This partnership would ensure that the users of the service are the ones that actually pay for it. Creating this partnership requires a political change--the contract between Washoe County and Reno, who currently operates Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, would have to be re-opened and the change negotiated. This is a small price to pay for obtaining effective response over such a wide area.
Save Money With Lower Insurance Premiums
The new fire station will provide better fire response to a large area. This will enable the Fire District to ask for an insurance re-rating for fire insurance in the area served. This likely will result in a 15% drop in the cost of fire and homeowners insurance for all homes in the area with improved service.
