Arlington to decide on EMS levy
Published 12:01 am Thursday, March 17, 2011
ARLINGTON — Firefighters are urging people to vote in the April 26 emergency medical services levy election in the city and Arlington Heights. Friday is the last day to register for the election.
Voters are being asked approve Proposition 1, which would renew the tax levy at a slightly highe
r rate and to make it permanent. Nothing else is on the mail-in ballot, which is planned to be sent out April 8 and needs to be returned by April 26.
If approved, the levy would continue to fund 24-hour paramedic services by the Arlington Fire Department, Fire Chief Bruce Stedman said. The levy is not a new tax and has been renewed every six years since 1980.
Other local fire districts have passed permanent EMS levies, arguing that the service is essential and that money saved on elections could be better spent for life-saving equipment, Stedman said.
The current EMS levy rate is 46 cents per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. If the proposition passes, the levy rate would rise to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, which is the same amount property owners paid in 2004, Stedman said.
If the proposition passes, the owner of a $250,000 house, for example, would pay $125 a year for emergency medical services. The current rate is $115 a year for the same house. That equals an increase an increase of $10 a year or about 83 cents a month.
When put before the voters in November, the proposition, which needed a super-majority of 60 percent, lost by 41 votes.
Stedman and other city officials figured that some voters may have thought the levy was a new tax.
“If it doesn’t pass this time, we’ll see some devastating consequences,” Stedman said. “We’ll have to eliminate the fire department’s paramedic services and it will take us longer to respond with just basic life support.”
Arlington Fire provides emergency medical services for the city, as well as for the town of Darrington and the Silvana, Arlington Heights and Oso areas. The levy passed in the Oso, Silvana and Darrington fire districts, but the failure in Arlington means potential problems for all the fire departments. The current levy expires in December.
If the Arlington levy fails again, the fire districts that passed the levy in November could use the tax revenue to fund paramedic service from another agency.
“But I have no idea what that would be,” Stedman said.
To register to vote in the levy election, go online to the Secretary of State website: wei.secstate.wa.gov.
For more information about the levy, call Stedman at 360-403-3600.
