info@dcfire.org
(405) 216-0665Citizens who live within the boundaries of the Deer Creek Fire Protection District (DCFPD) will have the opportunity to vote for a millage increase that will benefit the DCFPD at the August 27, 2024, election. On the ballot will be a question with the language,
_____ Yes, for the proposal _____ No, against the proposal”
The DCFPD respectfully requests that our citizens support this proposal by voting “yes.”
The citizens of Deer Creek voted to convert the Deer Creek Volunteer Fire Department into a Title 19-901 fire protection district on May 14, 1996. That is when our name changed to the Deer Creek Fire Protection District and we began receiving funding through special assessment fees, collected like ad valorem property taxes. Title 19-901 FPD’s are required to start their special assessments at 7 mills. Due to a correction at some point, Oklahoma County bumped our millage up to 7.3 mills. However, the DCFPD has never requested a millage increase in 28 years. As Logan County has only been formally annexed into the district since November of 2022, they are contributing an even 7 mills. Prior to 2019 legislation, Title 19-901 FPD’s were not allowed to cross county lines for funding. The DCFPD is the first fire protection district to successfully cross county lines with formal annexation to receive funding. If this millage increase is approved, it will be placed on the 2025 tax rolls and our district will begin receiving the additional funding at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.
Now that our entire District is contributing funds, and the Logan County portion has been part of the district for more than one year, we are legally able to request a millage increase. We are requesting a millage increase to 10 mills for the entire District. This is currently the maximum millage that a fire protection district can receive per Title 19-901 statute.
Our district is one of the fastest growing areas in the state. From 2000 to 2020 our district has experienced a 256% growth in population (2,541-9,049) and a 279% increase in call volume (169-640). While having funding that is based on property values has ensured that our budget has increased steadily over the years, the funding we receive is still a year or two behind what we see being built. This makes staying in front of growth and planning for the future more difficult. [Learn more about our growth in FAQ’s]
Our primary goals for the increased funding are to increase staffing, plan and purchase capital improvements, and provide an ambulance service for our district.
Staffing: The additional funding would allow us to steadily add full-time staff. We currently only have four full-time employees and one of those is the fire chief. This means that we only have one paid firefighter on each of the three 48/96 shifts. The rest of our 4-person minimum staffing is made up of volunteers, two paid during office hours and 3-5 unpaid overnight. [Learn more about our staffing in FAQ’s] Adding staff allows us to do our jobs more efficiently and more safely, which in turn lets us serve our citizens in the same manner. It also factors into our ISO (Insurance Service Office) public protection classification which is used to help insurance companies determine property insurance rates. The better (lower) our classification score is, the cheaper the insurance rates will be. [Learn more about our ISO PPC rating in FAQ’s]
Capital Improvements: We already have land purchased to build our third station, which will place all of our western district within 5 driving miles of a fire station. That 5 driving miles correlates again to the ISO PPC rating and insurance rates. This additional funding would help us in securing funding to build that third station. The only piece of apparatus we do not have enough of to equip our third station is a tanker. Therefore, we will also need to purchase a new tanker to go along with the new station. From the point of securing those two items will come the need to plan for our next replacement engine. Fire apparatuses have doubled in price from 2018 to 2023. In fact, our Engine 1 was bought in 2018 for $520,000. To build an exact replica of that engine today would cost around $1,040,000. It will also take about 3 years from the point of ordering the engine to take delivery, which only adds to the difficulty of planning for the future. Adding another apparatus with water and a pump also improves our ISO classification and can lower insurance rates.
Ambulance Service: On December 31st, 2023, at 11:59:59pm, EMSA stopped servicing the citizens that live within the DCFPD. This was a business decision for them brought on by the city of Edmond contracting with AMR for ambulance service. Fortunately, by working with Oklahoma County District 3 Commissioner Davidson and Oak Cliff Fire Protection District, we were able to contract with Miller EMS to ensure there would be no gap in ambulance coverage for our district. Commissioner Davidson’s office has recently been able to secure ARPA funds to pay the subsidy payment to Miller EMS through 2026. That timeline coincides with when we should be receiving the millage increase funding, which will allow us to pay the subsidy and continue to ensure that our citizens will have an ambulance available to respond to any emergency. Without the additional funding, the DCFPD cannot guarantee uninterrupted ambulance service to the district after 2026.
So, what will this millage increase cost our citizens? We are glad you asked. Here is a table showing what the difference should be.
| Taxable Market Value | Assessed Value | Ok Co Current at 7.3 mill | Lo Co Current at 7 mill | Ok Co & Lo Co Increase to 10 mill | Ok Co Difference Annual/Monthly | Lo Co Difference Annual/Monthly |
| $100,000 | $11,000 | $80.30 | $77.00 | $110.00 | $29.70 / $2.48 | $33.00 / $2.75 |
| $200,000 | $22,000 | $160.60 | $154.00 | $220.00 | $59.40 / $4.95 | $66.00 / $5.50 |
| $300,000 | $33,000 | $240.90 | $231.00 | $330.00 | $89.10 / $7.43 | $99.00 / $8.25 |
| $400,000 | $44,000 | $321.20 | $308.00 | $440.00 | $118.80 / $9.90 | $132.00 / $11.00 |
| $500,000 | $55,000 | $401.50 | $385.00 | $550.00 | $148.50 / $12.38 | $165.00 / $13.75 |
| $600,000 | $66,000 | $481.80 | $462.00 | $660.00 | $178.20 / $14.85 | $198.00 / $16.50 |
| $700,000 | $77,000 | $562.10 | $539.00 | $770.00 | $207.90 / $17.33 | $231.00 / $19.25 |
| $800,000 | $88,000 | $642.40 | $616.00 | $880.00 | $237.60 / $19.80 | $264.00 / $22.00 |
| $900,000 | $99,000 | $722.70 | $693.00 | $990.00 | $267.30 / $22.28 | $297.00 / $24.75 |
| $1,000,000 | $110,000 | $803.00 | $770.00 | $1100.00 | $297.00 / $24.75 | $330.00 / $27.50 |
Should you decide to perform calculations based on your home, please remember that market value and taxable market value are not the same and there is no uniform calculation to determine it. The assessed value is 11% of the taxable market value. Then divide the assessed value by 1000 and multiply that number by the millage rate (7, 7.3, or 10) to determine the amount paid to the fire district. The County Assessor’s websites are useful for this.
We hope this information will help inform our citizens as they vote on August 27th. If you have further questions or would like to invite our fire chief to an HOA meeting to discuss this further, please reach out through email at info@dcfire.org.
Thank you