{"id":11218,"date":"2019-05-10T17:12:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=11218"},"modified":"2019-05-10T17:12:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T17:12:26","slug":"ketchum-preps-for-new-fire-station-equipment-upgrades-new-hire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/ketchum-preps-for-new-fire-station-equipment-upgrades-new-hire\/","title":{"rendered":"Ketchum Preps For New Fire Station, Equipment Upgrades, New Hire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voters to determine in November if they want to pay for it all<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
A chart shows the property tax burden for Ketchum homeowners should a bond get voter approval in November. Image credit: City of Ketchum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An 11th-hour plan by the City of Ketchum to save its contract with the Ketchum Rural Fire District was well received at the city council\u2019s May 6 meeting. Councilmembers voted unanimously to move forward with a bond on the November ballot, meaning voters will be asked to \u201cyae or nae\u201d a property tax increase that would bring Ketchum a new fire station\u2014at least\u2014and several equipment upgrades and a new administrative position, at most.<\/p>\n

As for a much-overdue fire truck, the city council approved the acquisition of a $935,000 aerial tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a done deal,\u201d said council president Michael David. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how we\u2019re paying for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The basic options are to drain the reserves through a purchase, or to lease the vehicle and make regular payments that are more affordable in the short term but more expensive over the long haul.<\/p>\n

The improvements are all part of a roadmap to consolidation between the rural fire district and the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley that has proved elusive for years.<\/p>\n

The three entities were nearly fully aligned earlier this year until the Ketchum City Council voted unanimously against entering into a contract for services with Sun Valley. Councilmembers expressed concern at that time that a contract would not be a sufficient way of guaranteeing emergency services protection to Ketchum residents, businesses and visitors. They preferred to establish a joint powers agreement (JPA) instead, since JPAs essentially form a new government body made up of representatives from multiple jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

This triggered the rural fire district to cancel the contract it had with Ketchum since the 1950s and enter into discussions that would team them up with Sun Valley instead. The rural fire district told Ketchum officials they\u2019d hold off on entering into a contract with Sun Valley if Ketchum could propose a plan sooner than later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a cost to doing nothing,\u201d Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw warned then.<\/p>\n

The New Plan<\/b><\/p>\n

Depending on which location the city decides to purchase and whether the Ketchum Rural Fire District re-ups, the bond would cost between $10 million and $15 million. The two locations councilmembers prefer are the city-owned lot north of the YMCA and a privately owned lot north of the Sun Valley Community School known as the Barsotti lot. The price difference? More than $3 million, potentially, to purchase the private lot.<\/p>\n

A number of other equipment upgrades could add $500,000 to the bond, too. And one personnel position\u2014an $84,000 assistant fire chief\u2014would be necessary if the rural fire district doesn\u2019t sign the new contract with Ketchum, David said.<\/p>\n

Ketchum has until mid-September to finalize the bond details and verbiage for a November ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Voters to determine in November if they want to pay for it all By Eric Valentine An 11th-hour plan by the City of Ketchum to save its contract with the Ketchum Rural Fire District was well received at the city council\u2019s May 6 meeting. Councilmembers voted unanimously to move forward with a bond on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,90,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ketchum","8":"category-municipal","9":"category-news","10":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}