A legislator who’s been a volunteer fire fighter for 33 years is sponsoring legislation that could lead to a five-hundred dollar property tax credit for first responders who are volunteers.
Republican Senator Adrian Dickey of Packwood said the idea came after new fire alarms were installed in a local school, prompting several false calls to the local fire department. “(School officials) were apologizing, you know, we do this for free, we take time out of our jobs, leave our families — whatever (and) if there was a way that they could help us a little bit,” Dickey said today, “and that’s a little bit where the idea came from.”
The proposed property tax credits would be voluntary, not mandatory, giving each county, city and school district authority to decide whether to extend the credit to voluteer fire departments and ambulance services. Dickey said the bill, as written, would let each fire chief set some standards volunteer fire fighters would need to satisfy to qualify for the credit. “He says, all right, you’ve got to make 75% of the calls. You’ve got to make 90% of the training,” Dickey said. “…Let that chief decide what his requirements or what their department’s requirements are going to be to sign off on this.”
The bill cleared a senate subcommittee early this afternoon. Dickey first introduced this concept a few years ago. His call to double the state income tax credit for volunteer fire fighters has failed to become law and Dickey’s proposal a reduced vehicle license fee for volunteer fire fighters has stalled, too.