A fire district sales tax proposal on the ballot this November is essentially the same as an August proposal rejected by voters. Leaders of Warrenton Fire Protection District are hoping the difference this time is who shows up to vote.

The Warrenton fire district is asking for a half-cent sales tax to rescue finances drained by years of expanding professional firefighter staffing. The district’s last tax increase was in 2001, and was designed to only pay for part-time professional coverage.

The proposal would also provide property tax relief using half of the money collected through sales tax.

Although the sales tax proposal was defeated by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in August, Fire Chief Anthony Hayeslip believes there are potential voters who kept their support at home last time. The fire district’s new objective is to get those people to the polls and turn the result around.

“We hear so much support outside of the polls, but we don’t see that support at the polls. ... It’s like, ‘We support you, but that day I was busy,” Hayeslip said. “It’s just about physically getting them to the polls.”

To that end, Hayeslip said he and other firefighters plan to engage small groups of community members, neighbors and social media contacts to turnout more supportive voters and raise awareness for the fire district’s need. With each conversation, they hope to convey how dire the district’s finances are, and have the listener carry that message to their own family and friends.

“The only way this works is not just me spreading the message,” Hayeslip commented. “It’s me telling you, and you telling your neighbor, your family, your friends. You take an hour of conversation and condense it down to something you can tell your friends, and that way people are reached on a personal level.”

Hayeslip added that his focus for the next month is to reach out to voters who are undecided on the tax issue, rather than trying to win over people who are staunchly opposed to any new tax.

Property tax decrease

Hayeslip said one question firefighters have frequently been answering is exactly how the sales tax would affect property taxes.

For every dollar collected in sales tax, 50 cents would go toward reducing property taxes for fire district residents in the following year. Hayeslip said exact numbers can’t be known ahead of time, but he estimates the fire district’s portion of property tax would drop by one-third.

For a $100,000 home, that’s about a $29 per year reduction. In exchange, the sales tax would add 5 cents to every $10 of retail purchases.

Hayeslip said he’s hoping to encourage more support from local business owners, who have a lot to gain from property tax reductions.

“Commercial property is a lot higher (tax assessment rate) than residential property. ... They’re going to save a lot more,” if the sales tax passes, Hayeslip said.