Officials with Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue want to see some solutions to millions of dollars of foregone revenue in a plan for the city of Ridgefield intended to build infrastructure for growth.
The district’s commissioners and chief met with Ridgefield City Council to discuss the impacts of a planned “tax-increment financing” (TIF) area in the city. If approved, the area would cover more than 900 acres of underdeveloped land in the city near the Interstate 5 junction with Pioneer Street.
The TIF area will use property tax growth from development in its boundaries to fund infrastructure projects intended to support that growth. It diverts increased property tax collections from taxing districts such as the city, county and fire district to pay for a list of projects established at the formation of the TIF area.
That diversion is a chief concern for CCFR. Although information from the city indicated about $17.4 million would be foregone over the 25-year lifetime of the TIF area, the fire district’s own projections were more like $23 million, fire district officials say.
The loss of potential revenue and the increase in activity from the planned development in the area could mean a drop in service across the fire district, CCFR Commissioner Larry Bartel said. The fire district covers Ridgefield, La Center, Woodland and surrounding areas.
“Without new income, eventually the service levels are going to go down,” Bartel said.
The district would have to go out to voters across the district to bring those levels back up, he said. The increase would affect taxes for all properties in the district, not just those in the TIF area.
Councilor Matt Cole noted Ridgefield as a whole currently pays in more to the district than other areas. Data provided to the council showed the city makes up 31% of property tax revenue for the fire district but only 20% of the call volume.
Mayor Jennifer Lindsay said fire protection is one of three facets in the city’s plan for public safety.
“You’ve got fire, you’ve got police, and you’ve got safe roads,” Lindsay said.
The current plan for the TIF area has 10 major infrastructure projects to be funded through the financing scheme. Of those, widening Pioneer Street to four lanes between 56th Place and Royle Road was one of the largest with a $35 million price tag.
CCFR Chief John Nohr said other aspects of public safety like police have alternative revenue sources as they’re funded from the city and can be supported by sales tax.
Acknowledging that having the infrastructure to arrive on scene for a call is important, Nohr said having the personnel, apparatus and the funding behind them was more necessary.
“A road isn’t going to put out a fire or do CPR on somebody,” Nohr said.
City councilors questioned the difference in call volumes that residential areas have compared with commercial. The latter is the focus for the TIF area, including the project to bring a Costco on the west side of the city’s junction with Interstate 5.
“We don’t build a fire department based on whether it’s commercial [area] or not,” Nohr said.
He anticipated CCFR would put another response unit in service based on the planned development. That would cost about $1.5 annually in personnel alone.
Nohr said the TIF area relies heavily on the funds generated by the fire district in order to be successful.
“We are paying far and away more than anyone else into this TIF,” Nohr said.
Should the TIF area be approved by Ridgefield, mitigation of the impacts to the fire district was a top concern. Lindsay said there is potential to include a project in the TIF area list benefitting the fire district. That could include purchasing property or construction of a fire station itself.
Mitigation could also be financial, but it requires “demonstrative data” on what the impacts are, she said.
Fire commissioner Jade Bourke said impacts wouldn’t begin until several years down the line when development starts to build momentum.
“That’s when we’re really going to see the impact on this, and that’s when it’s really going to hurt us,” she said.
Bourke suggested having language in the TIF area ordinance requiring that impacts are revisited once they are more well-known.
Nohr said part of the issue with determining impacts on taxing districts is due to how new TIF areas are in the state. State legislation was passed in 2021 allowing the creation of TIF areas, with only a handful of taxing districts using them currently.
Nohr said an attorney that works with most fire districts in the state attempted to figure out a formula for anticipating impacts. They asked for guidance from the state Department of Revenue but did not get much help.
“Even the state [Department of Revenue] doesn’t know how to do this,” Nohr said.
Like Bourke, Nohr said the strain on CCFR wouldn’t be evident until development in the area starts happening.
“It’s not going to make a difference to us in year one or two or three,” Nohr said. “I really project in year eight, 10 and 12 is when you’re really going to see the impacts on us.”
