By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer
More than 18,000 voters living in Fire District 8 must meet today’s postmark deadline to participate in a mail-in-ballot election.
The issue: Whether to approve an increase in the levy "lid" (the maximum amount the levy can collect) to increase paramedic staffing and provide training facilities for the fire district.
The levy is set at $1.09 per $1,000 of assessed value. That would increase to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value if a simple majority approves the measure. That means the owner of a $200,000 home, now paying $218 a year, would see his or her tax bill increase to $300 a year.
However, adding in a previously approved emergency medical services levy of 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation would bring the fire district’s total annual tax bill for this homeowner to about $390 a year if the levy issue is approved, Deputy Chief Dave Lingenfelter said.
The levy now raises $2.56 million a year, but it would increase to $3.54 million if the levy increase is passed.
This is the first time the fire district has asked to increase the levy since 1982.
The fire district encompasses 46 square miles and includes the city of Lake Stevens. Its southern boundary is U.S. 2; its eastern boundary is between Granite Falls and Lake Stevens on Highway 92 around Schwartzmiller Road; its northern boundary is near 60th Street NE; and its western boundary is on the east side of the U.S. 2 trestle.
If the levy passes, the district would pay for a second paramedic unit to be staffed full-time, instead of just part-time, Lingenfelter said.
Hiring five new employees — three paramedics and two firefighters — by the summer is the first step the agency would take if the issue passes, Lingenfelter said. That would cost about $252,000 a year to kick off, he said.
"Personnel is our biggest issue," Lingenfelter said. "With call volume and requests for responses increasing, we need the manpower to keep up with the demand," he said.
The number of calls the fire In 2001, it was dispatched to 541 fire calls and service alarms and 2,915 calls for emergency medical service.
The fire district would also like to build a training room, a 30-by-60-foot portable classroom, at the Machias station where crews could train and drill. That cost is estimated at $125,000.
The fire district has 30 full-time and 30 part-time firefighters, Lingenfelter said.
You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486
or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.
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