Voters living in unincorporated Snohomish County will be asked to restore the same levy rates for fire service in the Sept. 14 Primary Election.
Snohomish County Fire District 1 and 7 have measures asking voters to renew rates of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
“Prop. 1 asks voters to reauthorize the levy at the same rate they approved two years ago,” District 1 Chief Ed Widdis said.
Also, District 7 will have its annual tax renewal levy, a move done in part to take advantage of residential and commercial development going on in the district, District 7 chief Rick Eastman said.
State law sets a one percent limit on budget increases. As a result, the fire levy rate drops a few cents each year.
Meanwhile, according to Widdis, fire department labor and operating costs are increasing at a rate greater than the one percent limit set by the state.
Eastman’s district faces similar problems. All of the tax levy money goes toward staffing, he said, and the district faces three percent salary increases for staff, as well as a 25 percent increase in medical insurance costs.
“We run a tight ship,” Eastman said.
Widdis said District 1’s levy is the main source of revenue for that district, which serves unincorporated areas of Mill Creek, and is used to fund day-to-day staffing and operations. The levy will provide funding to continue emergency response at today’s level of service.
District 7, meanwhile, funds operations out of a contract with the city of Mill Creek and the ambulance transport program.
Voters within Mill Creek’s city limits will not see either fire proposition on their primary ballots.
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