By Jennifer Langston
Herald Writer
With absentee ballots counted Friday, it’s all but certain that a school bond issue in Monroe and a special levy to pay for paramedics in Fire District 4 are dead.
Results of the May 21 election won’t be certified until next week, but the numbers are unlikely to change significantly, election officials said.
According to Friday’s results, only 58 percent of voters said yes to a $12 million school bond in Monroe that would have paid to build a new elementary school, modernize a second and upgrade technology throughout the district.
The measure needed 60 percent approval to pass.
A special levy that would have enabled Fire District 4 to hire its own paramedic crews also was rejected. The district currently contracts with neighboring departments for those services, which can drive up response times.
Voters in Snohomish approved the paramedic levy by 65 percent. But in the outlying fire district, only 57 percent said yes. The measure needed 60 percent support.
The results are pretty easily explained by the different demographics in the two areas, Fire District 4 Chief Bob Merritt said.
Seventy percent of the fire district’s medical calls come from the city of Snohomish, which tends to have an older population more concerned about health care.
In the outlying fire district, people have an independent, pioneer mentality. If they break their arm, they think about setting it themselves rather than dialing 911, he said.
He said the fire district commissioners would discuss the election in June but that he wasn’t sure what would happen next. This is the second time a paramedic levy has failed in the district.
Merritt said many fire and Emergency Medical Services levies across the state were unsuccessful this time around. He said it’s hard to interpret that message, since you never know if people are concerned about taxes, happy with the level of service they’ve got or angry at the district. But he thinks the failures are probably driven by economic uncertainty.
His volunteer firefighters represent a pretty broad cross-section of society, he said. Their friends voted with their pocketbooks, worried about more Boeing layoffs and uncertain if the recession will resume.
"I believe it’s an economic climate thing, and we respect that," he said.
You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452
or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.
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