Residents in two small Marion County fire districts will vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, on whether to merge into one.

The ballot measure would dissolve both the Mt. Angel and Monitor Rural Fire Protection Districts. The combined entity would cover about 71 square miles and roughly 8,200 people in Marion and Clackamas counties, the Statesman Journal reported in July.

The merger is one of 16 fire-funding measures on ballots in nine Oregon counties, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. The state burned a record 2.1 million acres this year. Property-tax limits passed in the 1990s have squeezed fire district budgets statewide.

What's on the ballot

Voters in both districts face four linked questions: dissolving the Mt. Angel district, dissolving the Monitor district, creating a new combined district with a set tax rate, and choosing five board members, the Statesman Journal reported. If any one question fails, they all fail.

"It's either you're for everything or against everything," Mt. Angel Fire District Board Chair Phil Wiesner said.

What it costs

The proposed district would tax property owners $1.97 per $1,000 of assessed value. Mt. Angel's current permanent rate is $1.0146 per $1,000. Monitor's permanent rate is 53 cents per $1,000, plus a voter-approved 50-cent operations levy.

The increase is steep. For most property owners, the new rate would nearly double what they pay, the Statesman Journal reported. In the Mt. Angel district, that works out to about $238 more per year.

Mt. Angel Fire Chief Jim Trierweiler described the proposal as a 20-year funding solution.

Why merge

Leaders of both districts cited rising call volumes and a shrinking volunteer pool. Mt. Angel has between 35 and 40 volunteers and two paid, full-time firefighter/EMTs. Monitor has 22 volunteers and no full-time staff of its own, though it pays half the salary of one Mt. Angel firefighter.

If the measure passes, the districts plan to hire two more full-time staff members.

At a public hearing in July, Mt. Angel resident Phillip Gendhar said full-time responders save critical time. "Both districts had pretty significant events where if we didn't have full-time staff, we would have lost community members," Gendhar said.

Path to the ballot

The Marion County Board of Commissioners approved the resolution to put the merger before voters on July 27. The districts had collected about 1,200 signatures from residents. No one spoke in opposition at either of two public hearings.

Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron supported the effort, saying the districts had done the work to earn a vote by collecting signatures and engaging the community.

If voters approve the merger, the districts will return to the Marion County commission to ratify the combination after results are certified.