BRINNON — The Brinnon Fire Department will ask voters April 28 to renew an emergency medical services property tax levy and make it permanent.
Without passage of the levy, which would replace one that became effective in 2010, emergency medical services would be severely limited, said Fire Chief Patrick Nicholson.
“We get over 50 percent of our income from this levy,” he said.
“If this doesn’t pass, we will have to lay off our career staff and won’t be able to respond to calls or even transport someone to the hospital.”
Nicholson said the department’s yearly budget is $590,960, which includes $380,460 for fire and $210,500 for EMS.
If the levy is rejected, the department would be limited to one fire station providing fire and rescue response with limited first aid ability by volunteers, he said.
“Twenty-four-hour medical aid response will no longer be guaranteed,” he added.
The present levy of 50 cents per $1,000 property tax valuation required a simple majority when it passed in 2009.
To make it permanent — at the same amount — requires a 60 percent supermajority.
The fire district commissioners voted to put the measure on the ballot Feb. 10.
A town hall meeting to discuss the levy proposal will begin at 7 p.m. March 30 at the Brinnon Community Center, 306144 U.S. Highway 101.
Ballots will be mailed to registered voters in the district April 8 in the all-mail election.
Nicholson said the passage of the present levy, which expires this year, allowed the department to hire four firefighters and purchase equipment, fuel for emergency medical services vehicles and consumable medical supplies; pay ambulance transport fees; and perform vehicle maintenance, among other daily expenses.
If this year’s levy measure fails, the Fire Department will be unable to provide regular ambulance response and will cease transportation to the hospital at the end of fiscal year 2015, Nicholson said.
He said the department was challenged this winter by two major floods — one in December and another in February.
The department could not have responded with the rescue of people trapped in a pickup truck and evacuations of people from flooded homes if the emergency medical services funds had not been in place, he said.
“One of our career staff is a water rescue expert. If he wasn’t on the force, there could have been a loss of life,” Nicholson said.
Making the levy permanent will eliminate the need to approach voters every five years, he said.
“Legally, we could only establish the EMS levy for a five-year term initially,” he said.
“We are now able to establish this as a permanent levy so that it does not require renewal every five years.”
“This is in the best interest of the public so that we don’t have to propose a ballot measure each time,” he said, adding that a permanent levy “will also secure our ability to maintain providing emergency medical services and ambulance transportation.
Jefferson County Assessor Jeff Chapman said all of the fire districts in the county have permanent emergency medical services levies that assess 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
A permanent levy is necessary for the department to establish a long-term budget, Nicholson said.
“It’s difficult to plan a budget if we’re in danger of losing our funding every five years,” he said.
“We can’t forecast or fund any long-term projects because we aren’t sure we will be able to repay the debt.”
The 60 percent approval must be with enough voters participating to make up 40 percent of those voting in the last general election.
According to the Jefferson County auditor, 671 voters in the Brinnon Fire District participated in the 2014 election, which means 269 people will need to vote in order to validate the results.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.