PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Fire Protection District No. 1 commissioners have voted to place levy lid lifts on the Feb. 14 special election ballot.
The measures will ask voters to raise the emergency medical services (EMS) tax levy from 36 cents to 50 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value and increase the fire/general operations levy from 85 cents to $1.30 per $1,000 in assessed property value.
If approved, the levies would go into effect in 2024 and apply to property owners living in the East Jefferson Fire Rescue area, which, starting Jan. 1, will include Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue. Voters in Port Ludlow approved its merger into the East Jefferson in the Nov. 8 general election.
By state law, taxing districts must seek voter approval to increase property tax revenue of more than 1 percent per year.
The levy increases would be permanent. However, over time, the actual levy rate could decrease as assessed property values increase.
Fire Chief Bret Black told the commissioners the lid lifts were desperately needed to hire much-needed EMS and firefighters and maintain services.
Black said the district’s budget committee had trimmed as much as possible from the 2023 budget by postponing about $2.4 million in vehicle and equipment purchases and boat and radio upgrades, and by eliminating essential professional training, safety gear and facility repairs, among many other needs. In all, $3,344,209 in cuts were made.
The district has been unable to replace aging fire engines, Black said, because, at about $900,000 apiece, it simply cannot afford new ones.
“I’m sorry to say you see some very important items, including fuel, that we cut from the budget,” Black said. “Our 2023 budget is $13,914 million and change, and we are still exceeding our revenue by $2.3 million with all of those cuts.
“We are literally cutting more than fat,” Black said. “We are cutting muscle and tissue off the organization. And we’re still spending more than we bring in every year.”
The $2.3 million will have to be made up, Black said, by dipping into the district’s reserves, a practice that commissioners have said is not sustainable.
The district will start 2023 operating at 52 percent of its reserves, and by the end of 2023, that number will drop to 34 percent, Black said. If the district continues its deficit spending, reserves will drop to 16 percent by 2024.
Black said that because 75 percent of the district’s callers request EMS services, it would only be able to maintain that level of activity if the levy amount was raised to 50 cents.
“Starting today and in the future we need to keep that EMS levy at 50 cents if at all possible because that is what the community experiences the most,” Black said.
Commissioner Deborah Stinson said constituents had told her they believed voters were more likely to approve an EMS levy than the one for the fire levy. She asked the board to consider combining the two levies into one resolution.
“It’s a single vote and we don’t risk people having to decided to vote for both,” Stinson said. “But we have to make it easy to understand why we’re doing it and it also has to be justifiable.”
Port Ludlow Commissioner Raelene Rossart said that while putting one resolution on the ballot might appear simpler, it carried greater risk for the district.
“I don’t like the idea of putting all of our eggs in one basket,” Rossart said. “If we get one and not the other, at least we’re a little better off than we are now. I am hopeful that we can pass both, but I worry that if we ask for too much in one that it may be just shot down. Splitting it is safer.”
Among the public commenters at the meeting was “SFN,” who said the commissioners needed to take into consideration the public’s perception of the economic forecast if they were going to ask for more money from taxpayers.
“The coming economy in 2023 is looking pretty dire,” the caller said. “It’s something to consider as you move forward looking at things.”
Another public commenter, Jim Nuerenberg, said he would support the measures.
“Times are looking a little bit better, but I think we have to be very careful,” Nuerenberg said. “Watching what just happened in Thurston County is something for the team to look at and to avert that kind of a turnout.”
After voters in the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority rejected tax levies in the Nov. 8 election, it closed three stations and laid off more than half of its firefighters.
“This is a bad time to be doing this,” Stinson said. “But we have to.”
________
Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@soundpublishing.com.
