Chugiak fire chief to ask voters this spring for first mill rate increase since 2005

Chugiak's all-volunteer fire department will ask voters next April to raise its property tax rate for the first time since 2005, Chief Clifton Dalton said Wednesday at a Nerd Nite talk in Eagle River. Municipal code caps the rate at 1.00 mill, so only voters can raise it. The election is April 6, 2027.

The service area collects about $1.7 million a year and keeps about $1 million after municipal charges for dispatch, apparatus maintenance and data systems, Dalton said. A new fire truck runs $1.2 million to $1.5 million. "We need to raise the mill rate in the Chugiak Fire Service Area to buy fire trucks, to put fuel in the trucks, all those things," he said.

At 1.5 mills, or $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, a $250,000 property would owe $375 a year. Anchorage Fire Department area owners pay 2.27 mills.

Dalton said call volume has jumped 27 percent and that some trucks are older than the National Fire Protection Association's 15-year guideline. He pointed to Powder Reserve, which the Anchorage 2040 Land Use Plan expects to develop at urban densities.

"Our goal is not to expand our services, just to keep what we got," he said.