Important Message Concerning OV Fire Service

Many of you know our friend & neighbor Jim Needham. Jim has been working on behalf of his neighbors in an attempt to find a way to lower the fire service bills for those of us who were contracted with Rural Metro service.

You may be aware that as a result of the merger, approximately one year ago, between RMFD & Golder Ranch Fire District, many of us have seen our fire service bills increase 20%-30% , and in some cases, more than 100%.

Jim is looking for volunteers willing to assist him in the job of finding an alternative to paying these rates, that many feel, are exorbitant.

Please keep in mind, many communities in Oro valley have yet to be annexed into the GRFD. That will require greater than 50% of property owners to "sign on." By law, areas to be annexed into a fire district must be contiguous with an area already being served by the district. Therefore, one possibility is getting service from The La Canada Fire District. Following is an exerpt from Jim's email we received on April 14.

Jim writes:

"One possibility is for some areas of Oro Valley to be annexed by La Canada Fire District (LCFD) prior to Golder Ranch Fire District (GRFD). Both their rates are based on assessed property valuation but the LCFD is $1.25 and the GRFD is $2.092., (per $100 assessed value.) That makes GRFD about 67% higher than LCFD.

This approach is labor intensive so I cannot do it alone. If enough Oro Valley citizens help, the effort can be accomplished in a professional manner. This will take a lot of education and coordination with the citizens in the proposed annexation areas. This means a lot of time from all the volunteers. If you cannot or will not expend the effort please do not volunteer. If you are serious about this contact me by reply email.

I won’t be researching answers into any questions posed until there is a viable volunteer base to work with."

Jim Needham

Jim's email is: jneedham@earthlink.net

PS---- Please go to http://www.orovalleywatchdog.com/ link to read some of the background on this issue.