MAY 14, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
Ballots due May 18
Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, to return their ballots.
It is too late to mail ballots, but there is an official drop box behind the Keizer Civic
Center, 980 Chemawa Road N.E.
Other nearby ballot boxes include: Marion County Clerk, 555 Court Street N.E., Ste
2130, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and Roth’s Fresh Market, 4746 Portland Rd. N.E., 6
a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
You can track your ballot’s progress in Marion County by registering at tinyurl.
com/mctrax. Text message and email options are available.
Salem-Keizer School District board elections, Keizer Fire Board elections and an
operating levy for Marion County Fire District No. 1 are on the ballot this year.
MCFD1 makes
last pitch for
operating levy
St. Edward Catholic Church is hosting a Step into Spring Food Fest on May 15-16.
Oktoberfest-type fare will be offered. (FILE PHOTO, Keizertimes)
It's a springtime
Oktoberfest at St. Ed
St. Edward Catholic Church is hosting
the 2021 Step into Spring Food Fest on
May 15-16.
The event will be held on Saturday, May
15, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, May
16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Step into Spring
is a walk-in event.
Booths serving coffee and cinnamon
rolls will open at 9 a.m. each day.
Multiple nonprofit organizations will be
providing goods that people can purchase
at the event. St. Edward’s Youth Group
and Boy Scouts will offer Italian soda, iced
coffee and Schreiner’s iris bouquets, St.
Edward will offer Berliner sandwiches. St.
Edward’s Hispanic parishioners will offer
tamales, Gervais Knights of Columbus
will offer barbecue chicken, Father Taaffe
Homes will offer Oktoberfest sausage,
Michael the Archangel Pregnancy Center
will offer cinnamon rolls and St. Joseph
School will offer baked potatoes. Oregon
Dairy Women will be serving ice cream for
dessert.
Keizer library book
sale set for May 21-22
The Keizer Community Library’s
Spring Book Sale is scheduled for Friday,
May 21, and Saturday, May 22, from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. at the McNary Golf Club confer-
ence room located at 155 McNary Estates
Drive N.
Items include overstock books, audio-
books and CD, movies on videotape and
DVD, and puzzles. Prices are 50 cents
for paperback books, $1.00 for hardcover
books, $1.00 or less for most other items,
and special pricing on a few items.
Donations of the above-mentioned
items are always welcome. The library
is open for donations and curbside
pick-up Mondays 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays
and Thursdays 4 to 6 p.m. Call the library
during those hours at 503-390-2370.
Additional information is available on
the library’s website, www.keizerlibrary.
org.
The Keizer Community Library is a
non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation staffed
totally by volunteers. The semi-annual
book sales raise funds to help keep the
library doors open.
For Marion County Fire District #1
Chief Kyle McMann, the operating levy
on next week's ballot is nothing less than
a fight for the life of the district itself.
“We’re responding to 50 percent more
calls than seven years ago with 12 fewer
firefighters – actually, 22 if you include the
volunteers who have left due to burn out,”
said McMann. “We can’t keep going like
this. We are responding to well over 8,000
calls a year, and must have more person-
nel to provide an adequate response. The
current situation is unsafe.”
MCFD#1 is asking the community to
approve Measure #24-455, a local option
levy of $0.59 per $1,000 of assessed
property value during the May 18, 2021
Special District election. That’s approx-
imately $59 (or $4.92 per month) per
$100,000 of assessed property value.
The Fire District had a local option
levy of $0.71 per $1,000 until last year.
It had asked voters to renew it, but that
request was turned down. Loss of rev-
enue necessitated significant cuts to
service, and the community has seen
response times increase by more than a
minute.
Measure #24-455 would rehire nine
full-time
firefighter/paramedics
to
increase the number of emergency units
able to respond to 911 calls to four. The
Fire District currently has three units
responding down from 5.5 a year ago.
The Fire District serves 55,000 peo-
ple over 80 square miles and about 1,000
Keizer homes. It is an independent tax-
ing district and receives no revenue from
Marion County, the state or federal gov-
ernment. Last year, it lost 30 percent of
its revenue for emergency services when
its local option levy was not renewed.
Since that time, firefighter layoffs have
resulted in longer response times, clos-
ing stations and taking apparatus out of
service.
Ballots are due to Marion County
Elections or in an official drop site loca-
tion by 8 p.m. on May 18. There is a drop
box located in the parking lot of the
Keizer Civic Center.
More information about the local
option levy can be found at www.mcfd1.
com. Fire Chief Kyle McMann also
welcomes questions at 503-588-6535
or kylem@mcfd1.com.
Tax deadline looming
The deadline to file state and federal
taxes is Monday, May 17.
In March, the U.S. Treasury Department
and Internal Revenue Service announced
that the deadline to file taxes would be
extended, the Oregon Department of
Revenue extended state filing deadlines
shortly thereafter.
Penalties, interest and additions to tax
will begin to accrue on any remaining
unpaid balances as of May 17.
Individual taxpayers do not need to file
any forms or call the IRS to qualify for this
automatic federal tax filing and payment
relief. Individual taxpayers who need addi-
tional time to file beyond the May 17 dead-
line can request a filing extension until
Oct. 15 by filing Form 4868 through their
tax professional, tax software or using the
Free File link on IRS.gov.
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