The Smith Valley Fire Department is seeking to double its three-person full-time staff with a mill levy that will be voted on by taxpayers over the next several weeks.
A 49.26-mill levy will be mailed to approximately 3,400 eligible voters in Smith Valley’s 69-square-mile coverage area north and west of Kalispell on Aug. 22. Ballots must be returned by Sept. 12. If the levy passes, the owner of a $200,000 property would be assessed an additional $11.08 per month in taxes, or $5.54 per month on a $100,000 property. The levy would provide an additional $450,000 per year to the department.
Fire Chief Amy Beick, who first joined the volunteer-reliant department in 2007, says passage of the levy could offer a livable wage to some of the department’s on-call volunteers who are currently paid just $36 per 12-hour shift, although they do receive additional compensation for medical transports. The financial uncertainty has forced Smith Valley to deal with frequent staff turnover and face volunteer shortages that have also plagued other volunteer-driven departments in the area, according to Beick.
“We are not unique in this situation, by any means,” she said. “We’re all in the same battle, trying to retain and keep those highly skilled individuals. They come in, they get a little bit of experience and training, and then they move on to a job that pays them a livable wage where they can do this full-time.”
If the levy were to pass, Beick said the department’s primary station would be staffed by at least two full-time employees 24 hours a day. That’s important, she said, because at least two staffers are required to go out on each call. Today when the department is summoned, an on-call volunteer is paged and travels to the station before heading out. If staff were already on site, Beick said, the unit’s response time would be reduced by several minutes.
“No matter what the page is, somebody’s out the door within a couple minutes,” Beick said. “It goes from 10 to 15 minutes (currently) to between two and three minutes. In a CPR call that could be life or death; in a structure fire, that could be the difference between saving or losing a structure.”
Already this year, two local fire departments have floated mill levies, with differing outcomes. In Bigfork, voters approved a 15-mill levy by an overwhelming 771-374 margin to help that department boost staffing and respond to increased call volume. A similar levy was also proposed in Evergreen but was rejected by voters.
Smith Valley is also handling greater call volume, partly due to a private ambulance company canceling its contract with the department in 2016. Smith Valley answered 629 calls a year ago, up from approximately 400 in 2016. When the ambulance contract was canceled, Beick said the department’s board of trustees first considered relying on other local departments to provide emergency transports via a mutual aid agreement.
“(The board) didn’t feel that was right to put that burden on our mutual aid partners,” Beick said. “So we decided to start doing our own transports and in the two years (since) we’ve been able to do it without asking the community for support. But with the decline in volunteers we need to be able to keep and train these individuals. We want people that are invested in our community that we can build and train.”
Beick encouraged local residents to call the department’s main station number at (406) 752-3548 with any comments or questions.