ROCK SPRINGS — Reliance residents may find themselves without fire protection services in 2025 if members of the Reliance Fire District (RFD) don’t pay the past due bills from Sweetwater County Fire District No. 1 (SWFD No. 1).

Fire Chief, Scott Kitchner, said the fire district’s board will consider ending its contract with the RFD during its Dec. 17th meeting because it hasn’t paid SWFD No. 1 for fire calls it responded to within the Reliance area. Should that happen, the Reliance Fire District will receive a 30-day cancelation notice, with protection ending in January.

Reliance and the nearby area are within the RFD, which originally funded a volunteer fire service in the unincorporated town. The volunteer service folded years ago. Kitchner said that closing resulted in the Rock Springs Fire Department taking over emergency calls in the area, followed by SWFD No.1. The RFD still exists as an entity that receives tax funding through a mill levy charged to property owners in the district.

Kitchner said the RFD is currently behind approximately $34,000 in payments to SWFD No. 1, representing a year’s worth of payments. Kitchner said the last payment the fire district received was in March for $40,000, a lower amount than what was owed after the fire district agreed to forgive a portion of the debt. Kitchner said the aim isn’t to make money off the RFD, but to recoup costs the fire district has incurred while responding to calls from the Reliance area. 

“We cannot continue operating without a new contract and payment guarantee,” A letter Kitchner wrote to the RFD’s board states. “Otherwise we will be operating at a loss and subsidizing the Reliance Fire District with our taxpayers’ money.”

Kitchner said the fire district saw a $120,000 cut in its budget due to lower assessed property valuations last year. Kitchner also said the situation isn’t something he and the board want to be in, saying they believe they have no other options available to them. He said he and the board are open to working with the RFD as well. While he admits the fire district won’t completely ignore emergency calls from the Reliance area, the contract cancellation may result in increased insurance rates for residents and businesses within the Reliance Fire District.

“Somewhere along the line, you have to put your foot down,” he said.

Kitchner said one of the contributing factors in considering a contract termination with Reliance is that he has been unable to contact the RFD’s board of directors to discuss the payment situation. The SWFD No.1’s board also has concerns about the RFD having a legally-functioning board after the 2024 General Election resulted in no one filing to fill the single four-year term on the board. Budget documents obtained by SweetwaterNOW from the Sweetwater County Assessor’s Office also show the two other board members having terms that expire at the end of 2024, which would cause the board to cease functions in 2025. Kitchner said he also wonders if the board members have received the training for people elected to special district boards, which is required by state statute. Even without an election, mechanisms exist to appoint someone to a board vacancy and SWFD No.1’s board is unaware if that has happened.

“The Sweetwater County Elections office posted that 17 write-in votes were cast for the open position,” Kitchner’s letter states. “Still, as of the time of this letter, no one knows if the open position has been filled and if you have a legally functioning board capable of conducting business as per state statute.”

A Deficit Budgeted

According to the 2024 fiscal year budget submitted to the Sweetwater County Assessor’s Office, the RFD proposed $40,160 in expenditures off of $25,000 in funding the district requested from the county. The district receives three mills through its mill levy, which amounts to $17,420 during the 2024 fiscal year, with the $25,000 request representing a mill levy of 4.3 mills. Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis said a special district can request any amount from the county, but is only guaranteed to receive the mill levy amount statutorily authorized to the special district. One way the district could receive additional funds is through the Sweetwater County commissioners. The group could decide to subsidize the district’s shortfall through its funds, though the commissioners have also been working to cut expenses and reduce payments made to entities outside the core county as they are dealing with lower funding amounts. Based on the mill levy amount it’s set to receive alone; the RFD’s budget has a deficit of $22,730.

The levy amount doesn’t represent other payments that would be made to the district within a fiscal year. However considering the size of the district, Divis, who formerly worked in the Sweetwater County Treasurer’s Office, estimates none of those additional payments would result in a large sum going to the district. He said one area where the district could see a large windfall is from a back tax payment made by a commercial, or industrial property owner in the district, but admits he’s unaware of any outstanding tax bills that would result in that kind of payment. Sweetwater County Treasurer Mark Cowan was unavailable to be reached for this article.

A breakdown of the RFD’s budget shows the board budgeted $35,000 for fire protection payments to SWFD No.1, with another $3,000 budgeted for utilities and $1,550 set aside for fees, building maintenance and insurance. Other planned expenditures include $500 for professional fees, $100 for office supplies, and $10 for interest.

Divis said he understands the challenges people serving on special district boards face. The boards often garner little attention amongst the residents of special district, resulting in little interest in seeking election to a board. This can result in vacancies or situations where members serve multiple terms to keep it functional. Additionally, he said they are volunteer boards that sometimes require its members to deal with difficult problems impacting the special district without specialized training or knowledge.

SweetwaterNOW attempted to contact the Reliance Fire District and was unable to speak with someone. A followup article will be posted.