Fire departments around Snohomish County are asking residents to approve property tax increases to support fire and medical emergency services in the general election Nov. 8.
Fire District 4
Voters failed to pass a levy in the primary election, so the district is rerunning the same levy request. It only received a 40 percent approval rating in September.
The district, which serves 81 square miles including Snohomish, is asking to raise the levy rate to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value from $1.19 per $1,000. The 31-cent increase would generate approximately $1.13 million, Fire Chief Mark Collins said.
If voters approve the levy, the owner of a home valued at $250,000 would pay an annual fire service levy of $375, an increase of $77.50 a year.
The money would be used to replace aging equipment, repair and maintain stations, and pay for increases in dispatch services and employee benefits. The money also would restore the reimbursement rate for volunteer firefighters and pay for four new firefighters, Collins said.
If the levy fails, the district would have to make significant cutbacks in service by the end of 2006, Collins said.
Fire District 24
Rural residents near Darrington will be asked to pay for an $890,000 construction bond to expand the Whitehorse fire station on Swede Haven Road.
If approved, residents would pay 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For the owner of a $150,000 home, that would equal $45 a year.
That money originally was supposed to pay for the Whitehorse station and improvements to the fire station in town, roughly splitting the money in half, Darrington Fire Chief Joel Smith said.
“The goal is just to get the Whitehorse station to be a fire station instead of just a garage,” Smith said.
But voters in town will not have the measure on their ballots because of a miscommunication between the district and town officials, said Smith and Lyla Boyd, the city clerk.
Technically, District 24 has not yet merged with the Darrington Fire Department, although Smith is the administrative chief for both, and they have a joint board.
“The Town Council was not aware that the board wanted it on the Nov. 8 ballot,” Boyd said. “The council didn’t feel they had enough information about what the plans were, so they opted not to rush into this deadline. The commissioners opted to go ahead.”
Smith said the joint board includes the mayor and one council member, so district officials had assumed the Town Council had been apprised.
“We were shocked they were leery about it,” Smith said.
The Town Council could end up sending the proposal to town voters in the spring, Boyd said.
Even if they don’t, Smith said, any extra money generated by rural residents would simply be used to pay off the bond sooner.
If voters in town agree to the deal in the spring, the rest of the bond could be used to upgrade the town’s fire station, which has faulty, inefficient heaters, does not meet building codes and needs painting, Smith said.
Stories on ballot measures for Fire Districts 7, 10 and 23 will appear in Wednesday’s paper.
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