KUNA, Idaho — Kuna Fire and Nampa Fire are one step closer to forming a single department after the Kuna Fire Board of Commissioners voted to continue exploring plans to merge the two districts.
Kurt Zingheim, a Kuna resident and retired firefighter, spent 34 years in the fire service and says he helped consolidate 58 fire agencies down to 21 during his career.
“By doing that, we were able to streamline our process of providing better support and emergency services for the community,” Zingheim said.
WATCH: Hear from neighbors about the proposal to merge the two departments
From his perspective, combining Kuna and Nampa’s fire departments could help with strained budgets and resource sharing.
“It’s costing more to provide fire service than the budgets that are coming in, so fire departments are gonna have to find a new way of creating finances and financial stability,” he said.
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While Zingheim sees benefits, many residents still aren’t aware of the proposal. Kuna Neighborhood Reporter Brady Caskey talked to more than 20 people around town who said they had not heard about the plan.
At Wednesday’s meeting, a few residents spoke in favor of the merger, citing concerns about Kuna Fire's ability to keep up with the city's rapid growth.
“I am in full support of the Kuna merger with Nampa, with the growth that we have going on in this community,” said Gary, a Kuna resident. “It’s important that we support our first responders, as a senior citizen, we depend on their services.”
But not everyone agrees. The Kuna Fire Board shared that it had received an email opposing the idea, raising concerns about raising taxes for Kuna residents and about whether the deal would be fair for both cities.
Gary believes the tax impact would be small.
“The impact that we're going to have for our property taxes is minimal in the overall scheme of things,” he said.
If the proposal moves forward, Kuna residents could see their property taxes increase by about 20% per $100,000 of taxable assets.
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Now that both departments support the plan, the next step will be to draw a map of the new district. Both departments plan to hold public town halls in the coming months, where residents will be able to share their opinions.
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