MUKILTEO – Voters in Mukilteo are being asked to approve a six-year, $4.6 million levy to beef up the city’s paramedic service.
The levy on the Sept. 14 ballot would create a separate fund, starting at $770,000, each year for six years to hire and train six paramedics, city officials said. Currently, one paramedic is stationed in the city at any one time.
“This is a service that needs to be provided, and we’re going to have to pay for it,” said resident Leroy Saunders, who is leading the campaign to promote the levy.
Opposition is led by resident Charlie Pancerzewski, who said he would rather see any new revenue pay for fully staffing the mostly volunteer fire station in Old Town.
“All the cities around us are able to staff their fire departments with paid professionals,” he said.
Firefighters and paramedics are trained in first response medical treatment, with paramedics additionally trained in administering drugs and use of other life-sustaining equipment.The levy is a scaled-down version of a permanent measure that was defeated twice last year. To make the tax increase easier to swallow, the City Council reduced the duration to six years and the amount to 35 cents per $1,000 of assessed value from 40 cents. This would mean an additional $105 per year for the owner of a $300,000 home, according to the city.
If property assessments rise, the rate would be reduced, and no more than the $770,000 listed on the ballot other than an annual 1 percent increase allowed by law could be collected without voter approval, said Mayor Don Doran.
Mukilteo currently pays Everett to have one paramedic stationed at Fire Station 3 around the clock, seven days a week, according to the city.
The levy would create a separate pot of money that would keep the city from paying paramedic costs out of other funds and help prevent cuts of the type that had to be made last year, city officials said. The Everett contract totaled $420,000 this year, officials have said.
After the levy failed last year, the city concluded it could not pay for this years Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival, raised rents at the Rosehill Community Center and left several city staff positions unfilled.
Pancerzewski is skeptical. He noted the city has been able to balance its budget while maintaining a reserve and paying Everett for the paramedic.
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