Voters to decide $4 million bond request

The Somers Rural Fire District is asking for voter approval of a $4 million bond issue to build a new fire hall, with ballots to be sent out to registered voters in the district on July 12 for a July 30 mail-ballot election.

If approved, the 20-year bond would pay for the costs of designing, constructing, equipping and furnishing a new Somers Fire Hall on 5 acres of land owned by the fire district at 784 Somers Road. The site sits directly south of the Mackinaw Loop subdivision and about a half-mile south of Montana 82.

According to a legal notice from the district, the new facility would consist of a truck bay, storage area, community room and office area, with an upper level for a training room and living quarters to be finished if sufficient bond proceeds are available or roughed-in for finishing when funds become available; associated site development, including soil mitigation, utilities, driveway and parking areas, and landscaping; related improvements and costs; and paying costs associated with the sale and issuance of the bonds, according to the notice.

According to board Chairman Bill Brass, the bond, if approved, would roughly double the annual taxes paid for the fire department by residents of the district.

The cost for the bond breaks down to $11.98 per year for a home valued at $50,000, $23.96 annually for a $100,000 home and $47.93 annually for a $200,000 home, Brass said in an earlier Inter Lake article.

The election will be conducted solely by mail ballot. Ballots must be returned by each voter to the Flathead County Election Administrator, 40 11th St. W., Suite 230, Kalispell, MT, 59901, or in person, during regular business hours to the Flathead County Election Department by July 29.

On Election Day, July 30, the only place for deposit of voted ballots will be the county Election Department, with an 8 p.m. deadline.

A qualified voter who will be absent from the District during the time the election is being conducted may vote in person at the Election Department as soon as the ballots are available and until noon on July 11, 2019; or make a written request prior to noon on July 11, requesting the ballot be mailed to an address other than that which appears on the registration records.

At least 40 percent of the registered voters in the area — around 1,700 people — must cast their votes for the election to be valid.