Marysville, District 12 seek permanent levy

MARYSVILLE – Voters in the city of Marysville and in Snohomish County Fire District 12 will be asked to allow the district to restore the emergency medical services levy rate and to make the levy permanent.

Although voters approved the six-year levy in 2000 and it hasn’t expired, district officials hope voters will agree to make it permanent so they don’t have to put the measure on the ballot every six years, Fire Chief Greg Corn said. That will save election costs and assure continued funding for emergency medical services, he said.

The district, which adjoins Marysville and provides fire and emergency medical services to the city under a contract, still would have to ask voters occasionally to adjust the levy rate, he said. As property values increase, the levy rate decreases, he said. Currently, the district is collecting 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, instead of the 50 cents authorized in 2000.

In the past, the county has assessed property every four years, and some property owners have seen significant increases in their property values. Beginning in 2005, the county will assess property each year, which will mean a more gradual increase in property values and a more gradual reduction in the levy rate, Corn said.

He estimated that the district would only have to go back to voters to raise the levy rate back to 50 cents per thousand dollars every five to 10 years.

Folks think that when a $150,000 house goes to $175,000 that the taxes are going to increase by whatever percentage their house increased in value. But their taxes only increase 1 percent, he said.

Currently, the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 pays $86 for the emergency medical services levy. The proposed increase would increase that bill to $100 for the same $200,000 property.

The district would use the additional money to hire three more paramedics to help meet the growing demand. So far this year, about 80 percent of the districts emergency calls have been for emergency medical services.

All of the districts 60 full-time and 40-part-time firefighters are trained as emergency medical technicians, and 14 of them are paramedics. The district usually uses four paramedics per shift, but with vacation and other days off, it needs more to provide two fully-staffed ambulances for each shift, Corn said.

The Marysville fire districts property tax levy currently is 98 cents per $1,000, although state law allows fire districts to ask for up to $1.50 per thousand. The district hasnt increased that tax levy since the early 1980s, he said.

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