The Durango Fire Protection District will ask voters in November to approve a districtwide property tax that would raise taxes for most residents.

The board of directors voted 6-1 Tuesday night to put the ballot question to voters.

The district has until Sept. 2 to draft the language of the referendum and submit it to the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, said Dan Noonan, chief of Durango Fire & Rescue Authority.

“This will provide us a single and efficient method to provide emergency services to this community,” Noonan said.

The rescue authority is proposing a 6.8 mill levy across its 325-square-mile district, which would cost $217 per year on a $400,000 home. (The levy may be lower depending on final numbers provided by the La Plata County Assessor’s Office. The department’s goal is to restore operating revenue to 2010 levels of about $7.7 million.)

The rescue authority, DFRA, was formed in 2002 by combining an ambulance service and three fire districts: Durango, Animas and Hermosa Cliffs.

Voters made it official in 2006 by creating the Durango Fire Protection District but rejected a single-taxing district, which means the consolidated district has multiple revenue streams and boards of directors.

A uniform taxing district will pave the way to eliminate existing bond debt and levies in the Animas and Hermosa Cliffs fire districts.

It would result in a new tax for property owners in the city of Durango, but the city has agreed to eliminate an existing 2.507 mill levy to soften the blow.

The city would experience a $1.4 million windfall if the ballot issue passes. The additional money would finance capital-improvement projects, including a parking garage and street repairs.

City residents would see an annual increase of about $137, Animas Fire residents would see an annual increase of about $40, and Hermosa Cliffs residents would see an annual decrease of about $36 – based on a $400,000 home.

Bud Deering, who sits on the Durango Fire Protection board, opposed Tuesday’s resolution to put the ballot question to voters, saying the resolution is “misstated.”

The resolution says the Animas Fire Protection District will transfer its existing fund balance to the new district, will pay off its existing debt, will take steps to dissolve the district and will not certify a property tax for 2012.

Deering said all of those actions might occur in the future, but as of Tuesday, the Animas Fire board of directors hadn’t passed a resolution agreeing to any of them.

Noonan said the Animas Fire board has held numerous meetings to discuss the property tax, and it is the board’s intent to take all those actions when the time is appropriate.

“No, they haven’t had the official vote, but it is clear that is their intent, and they will do that at some point in the near future,” he said.

shane@durangoherald.com