The City of McCleary seems poised to send a levy to November ballots. The levy would support the fire department.

Currently, the fire department is plagued by aged equipment — equipment soon to surpass expiration dates and radio equipment that won’t hold a battery charge.

The levy would aim to collect $250,000. The timeline still is being considered. If the levy is collected over a longer time period, the annual cost to residents would be less, but those annual payments would continue for several years. If the levy is collected over a shorter time period, the annual cost to residents would be considerably higher but the levy would expire quicker.

Any increases would be to property taxes.

“That $250,000 is a pretty heavy burden,” Mayor Brent Schiller said.

In order to have the levy on November’s ballots, the city must submit paperwork to the county by August.

The city recently had applied to a grant to help replace the aging equipment, however that push failed when those available grants were awarded to communities with already-expired equipment. The city’s aging equipment will officially expire in 2018.

If the levy fails, the city plans to apply again for grant funding. If the grant applications fail again, the city will have to find funding from its ailing general fund.

Grant applications will need to be submitted before the November election. In the event that both the levy passes and the city is awarded grants, the city will earmark any levy funding for future fire department needs.

Councilwoman Brenda Orffer said the city needs to plan for a sustainable department. Schiller agreed.

“That’s been the problem in the past is we’ve always been able to live year to year,” he said. “It would be nice to get on a 5-year cycle.”

Orffer suggested using rural electric economic development (REED) funds to offset the costs to taxpayers. Schiller said he prefers to use REED funds as a contingency. Currently, the REED fund has only about $81,000 available.

“We’d have to use this other money as a backup, but in that case it would be ‘What is the first thing we need to look at purchasing?’ and that’s going back to kicking the can down the road,” Schiller said.

Voters have been reluctant to approve levies for the City of McCleary. Several police department levies have failed in recent years. Schiller said the last levy to pass for the city was in 2002.