PORT ANGELES — Two Clallam County Fire District 2 stations appear saved after voters weighed-in on a property tax levy increase that fire officials said was essential to maintain present services.
In the initial count of ballots Tuesday night, the measure to raise the levy by 29 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation received 1,371 votes, or 60.37 percent, in favor and 900 votes, or 39.63 percent, opposed out of the 2,291 votes cast in the district.
The measure needs a simple majority for passage.
“We’re happily surprised [by the gap], especially considering last November,” Chief Sam Phillips said.
In November 2013, voters defeated a proposal to increase the levy by 39 cents per $1,000 of assessed evaluation to fund round-the-clock emergency medical service.
“The difference is that we began communications with voters, kept communications going,” Phillips said.
Voters were better informed, and better understood how their tax dollars would be used, he said.
District commissioners had identified 17 cuts that would be made if the levy lid lift failed.
Cuts included the closure of the Deer Park and Black Diamond stations, with firefighters responding from the Gales Addition and Dry
Creek fire stations instead, district officials said.
The district also would have lost four full-time firefighter/paramedic positions. The positions had been funded by a Federal Emergency
Management Agency grant that expired in September.
Other potential cuts included instituting a $25 residential burn permit to $25, and raising the price for commercial land-clearing permits from $100 to $200
The measure increases the district’s maintenance-and-operations property tax levy from 76 cents per $1,000 to $1.05 per $1,000.
The increase represents $58 a year on a $200,000 home and would generate an estimated $278,858 per year for the fire district.
Phillips said the strong support for the levy increase came as a relief.
“It’s really the difference between being a full-service fire department that can do the basics, versus hamstringing our volunteers,” he said.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 18,242 ballots Tuesday out of 46,908 issued for a voter turnout of 38.9 percent, Auditor Patty Rosand said.
The Auditor’s Office received 3,952 ballots Tuesday in the mail and in drop boxes. Those were not counted, but brought voter turnout to 47.13 percent.
Rosand expects 7,000 more ballots to come in by Wednesday.
The next count of the approximately 11,000 ballots has been scheduled for Friday, Rosand said.
The district has not passed a maintenance-and-operations levy increase in 30 years.
Fire District 2 covers 85 square miles that include Dry Creek, Black Diamond, Lake Sutherland and Gales Addition, and serves about 9,500 residents.
About 95 percent of the district’s firefighters are volunteers.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
