SEQUIM — After deciding in May to move forward with two levy votes in 2025, Clallam County Fire District 3 officials have pivoted to split the proposals for voters’ consideration over two years.
Fire commissioners unanimously agreed on Aug. 20 to send a multiyear levy lid lift on Aug. 5, 2025, for only the general levy, and to run an EMS levy lid lift renewal sometime in 2026.
Fire chief Justin Grider said staff recommended pausing and reconsidering the timing of the ballot measures.
“We have time, and we did some poking around,” he said.
“(Consultant) Liz Loomis said she wouldn’t take us on as a client if we did both at the same time, and we thought maybe that’s some advice we should listen to.”
If a general levy is renewed next year, it would start collecting in 2026 and restore the levy to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value to fund and maintain the district’s staffing levels and services, and help replace equipment and infrastructure, district officials said.
The fire district’s general levy currently is at $1.12 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Staff estimate the levy would cost taxpayers about $17 more per month, based on a home value of $470,000.
The general levy would create about $3.9 million, or about a 38 percent increase over estimated property tax collection, with a Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflator used to calculate property taxes in subsequent years.
Staff previously said the general levy makes up about two-thirds of the fire district’s budget, while the EMS levy is most of the other one-third, minus timber revenues, donations, grants and charges for service.
An EMS levy renewal in 2026 tentatively would request to move up to $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value from $0.35 per $1,000.
Voters in 2018 approved increasing the fire district’s general levy rate from $1.26 to $1.50 per $1,000, and the EMS levy renewal in 2019 went from $0.46 to $0.50 per $1,000.
Grider said Clallam County Fire District 2’s two levies failing in the August primary wasn’t a major contribution to the decision but did help solidify what Loomis had advised.
In the next year, Grider said they’ll provide more information about the levy and district operations in their quarterly newsletter, on social media and at public meetings for community groups.
“We want to make sure our folks know what they’re voting for,” Grider said.
Fire District 3 serves a 142-square-mile district from Gardiner to Bagley Creek with 50 active firefighters who are on pace to respond to 9,000 emergency calls in 2024, which would be a record.
For more information about Clallam County Fire District 3, visit ccfd3.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
