PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council will consider using a portion of revenue from a sales tax hike voters approved Tuesday for fire services.
The city of Port Townsend is projected to receive $480,000 a year from the recently passed Proposition 1 — which raises the county sales tax rate by 0.3 percent to 8.7 percent — and has pledged to allocate one half of the new revenue to the maintenance of Memorial Field and the Port Townsend Recreation Center for at least four years.
The city’s finance committee recommended Wednesday that the remainder of the municipality’s income from the sales tax increase go to support East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, contributing to paying off the loan on the Port Townsend Fire Station and purchasing equipment.
The City Council will consider the idea Monday. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at 540 Water St.
The fire district commissioners discussed the idea at a budget workshop Thursday.
Public safety tax
The sales tax hike measure that Jefferson County placed on the Tuesday ballot is a “public safety sales tax,” and so one-third of the total amount it raises must be allocated to police, fire, or other public safety services, while 40 percent must go to local municipalities — in this case, Port Townsend.
The measure, which will add 3 cents to every $10 spent in Jefferson County as of April 1, is expected to earn an additional $506,000 specifically for the county, with a projected $480,000 going to Port Townsend.
Port Townsend contracts for fire services from East Jefferson Fire-Rescue. The city is not part of the district.
In August, voters defeated a levy lid lift for fire service within the city.
The August measure was meant to provide interim funding for fire service until one of two options became a reality: annexation of Port Townsend into the fire district or the creation of a Regional Fire Authority.
“The ballot measure failed, so this is a creative solution,” said Rich Stapf, fire district board chairman.
About $400,000 is owed on a fire district building at 701 Harrison St., and the city’s contribution would assume the yearly payments, according to the fire district board.
In April, voters approved measures supporting emergency medical services in both the city of Port Townsend and surrounding county, but the city did not ask for voter approval of a lift to support fire services in Port Townsend until August.
Since the August measure failed, fire district and city officials have looked for ways to consistently finance all local fire services.
“The most important thing is that we reach parity,” Stapf said.
Proposition 1 won approval with 7,090 votes, or 55.61 percent, in favor to 5,659 votes, or 44.39 percent, opposed in Tuesday’s count.
Auditor Donna Eldridge doesn’t expect today’s count of outstanding ballots to change the outcome.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
