The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

The City of Waitsburg and our local Fire District 2 have entered into an agreement to annex the city into the district. If the plan is ratified by voters, District 2 will take over firefighting duties within the city starting next year.

This idea makes perfect sense. The district surrounds the city, and the two entities already share a fire station. Why not simplify everything by absorbing the city FD into the district.

In separate but related news, the Waitsburg Ambulance Service has also entered into an agreement with District 2 to dissolve itself and allow the district to take over EMS services in the city. County EMS funds that were formerly being passed on to WAS will now go to the district.

That idea also makes sense, since WAS has been struggling financially for many years, and District 2 already provides EMS services in the county. However, as part of this change, voters in the Columbia county portion of District 2 are being asked to approve a related EMS levy.

So in order to put both of these plans into action, voters in the city and the district must give their OK. But that OK comes with tax increases.

Annexation into the city will mean that property owners in Waitsburg will see a bump in their tax rates of $0.51 per thousand. Residents in the Columbia County portion of District 2 will see a tax rate increase of $0.50 per thousand if they approve the EMS levy.

So here’s a couple of questions: First, if the city of Waitsburg gets out of the firefighting business, and WAS gets out of the EMS and ambulance businesses, why will taxpayers in Waitsburg and Columbia County have to pay higher taxes for District 2 to provide those same services?

Also, if the Columbia County folks vote against increasing their taxes for EMS services, will District 2 still offer ambulance services in the rest of the district? The answer to that was unclear in our discussions with officials.

As we report in our Page 1 story this week, an open house will be held October 14 to help answer questions about these two big changes. We hope city and district officials will give good clear answers to these two.