The city of Edgewater would join the Wheat Ridge Fire Protection District and disband its own city fire department next year if a pair of ballot questions are approved by voters.
Supporters of Questions 2A and 5A say the changes are the best and most cost-effective way to keep Edgewater safe in changing times.
But opponents argue the city could — and should — do more to keep its fire service in-house.
The Edgewater Fire Department has been in service since 1915.
If approved, Question 2A would revise Edgewater’s home-rule charter to remove a requirement that the city maintain its own fire department.
Question 5A would authorize the inclusion of Edgewater into the Wheat Ridge fire district and allow that district to assess a 7.5 mill levy in the community.
The change would take effect Jan. 1. Wheat Ridge would continue to operate the city-owned station until a new station is built. Three firefighters will be on duty at all times.
The Edgewater City Council has also said it will repeal the city’s own 5.03-mill property tax if the inclusion is approved.
Edgewater City Councilwoman Laura Keegan, a member of Neighbors Protecting Neighbors, the group leading the inclusion effort, said the city’s volunteer department does not have enough people or funding to keep up with demand.
“It’s an issue of safety,” Keegan said. “I don’t want my neighbor or my father down the street to be the call that doesn’t get answered.”
Since 1980, the number of volunteer firefighters living in Edgewater has decreased to 10 from 38.
Calls for service are on pace to hit 1,000 in 2012, up from 254 in 1980, according to the city.
If Edgewater becomes part of the Wheat Ridge district, property taxes would increase about $39 a year on a $200,000 home.
Upgrading Edgewater’s department would increase taxes on that same home anywhere from $152 to $280 a year, depending on the level of service achieved, Keegan said.
But John Moreno, a former city council member opposed to the inclusion, said the city could achieve better fire service on its own — without a big mill levy increase — and questioned the city’s commitment to emergency services.
“We don’t need fire equipment to take care of a 10-story building,” Moreno said. “The tallest building in Edgewater is five stories tall.”
Moreno said it’s also a bad idea for the city to surrender its own mill levy as part of the inclusion.
