NEWS BRIEFS: Eight percent return ballots in Brinnon Fire Department levy election . . . and other items

BRINNON — Eight percent of registered voters have returned ballots in the April 28 special election to renew the Brinnon Fire Department’s emergency medical services property tax levy and make it permanent.

Ballots were mailed April 8 to the 967 registered voters in the fire department district. As of Monday, 78 had returned ballots, for a return rate of 8.07 percent, the Jefferson County Auditor said.

The Brinnon levy is the only measure on either the Jefferson or Clallam county ballots for the April 28 election

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Brinnon Fire Department’s present levy of 50 cents per $1,000 property tax valuation, which became effective in 2010, required a simple majority when it passed in 2009.

To make it permanent — at the same amount — requires a 60 percent supermajority.

Without passage of the levy, emergency medical services would be severely limited, Fire Chief Patrick Nicholson has said.

The department would be unable to provide regular ambulance response and would cease transportation to the hospital at the end of fiscal year 2015, he added.

Nicholson said the department’s yearly budget is $590,960, which includes $380,460 for fire and $210,500 for emergency medical services.

By law, the levy could be established initially only for a five-year term, he said, but now it can be made permanent.

Portion of Jefferson property taxes due April 30

PORT TOWNSEND — The first installment of property taxes is due Thursday, April 30.

Mailed payments must be postmarked by April 30 to avoid penalty and interest charges.

Taxes may be paid in person at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

There are five drop boxes in Jefferson County for payment by check in the month of April:

■   Drop box in rear parking lot of the courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.

■   Bank of America, 734 Water St., Port Townsend.

■   Bank of America, 10 Oak Bay Road, Port Hadlock.

■   Sound Community Bank, 9500 Oak Bay Road, Port Ludlow.

■   US Bank, 14890 Center Road, Quilcene.

Credit card payments may be made online at www.co.jefferson.wa.us/treasurer or by phone at 877-812-8072.

Instructions for either option are on the back of the tax statement, and a 2.5 percent fee is charged by the service provider for credit card payments.

For more payment options, instructions or fee amounts, visit the Jefferson County Treasurer’s website at www.co.jefferson.wa.us/treasurer or phone the Treasurer’s Office at 360-385-9150.

Art Club begins

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center’s after-school Art Club, a program for children age 6 to 12, starts a new session today at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., and continues each Tuesday through April 28.

Each class meets from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., and the theme this month is printmaking: block prints, multimedia and monoprinting.

The cost is $45 for the session, and parents can register their kids by contacting the fine arts center via pafaced.org or 360-457-3532.

More in News

Fred Lundahl, a pilot from Whidbey Island, prepares to fuel up his 1968 Cessna Aerobat, named Scarlett, at the Jefferson County International Airport in Port Townsend. Lundahl was picking up his plane Wednesday from Tailspin Tommy’s Aircraft Repair facility located at the airport. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Fueling up

Fred Lundahl, a pilot from Whidbey Island, prepares to fuel up his… Continue reading

After hours pet clinic set for Peninsula

Opening June 6 at Sequim location

Five to be honored with community service awards

Ceremony set Thursday at Port Angeles Senior Community Center

PASD planning for expanding needs

Special education, homelessness, new facilities under discussion

Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Deputy Ed Bauck
Clallam Sheriff appoints animal control deputy

Position was vacant since end of 2024

Highway 104 road work to start week

Maintenance crews will repair road surfaces on state Highway… Continue reading

Supreme Court says no to recall reconsider

Sequim man found liable for legal fees

Chimacum Ridge seeks board members

Members to write policy, balance values, chair says

Fire destroys shop east of Port Angeles

A fire on Hickory Street east of Port Angeles… Continue reading

Jefferson Transit Authority to expand Kingston Express route

Jefferson Transit Authority has announced expanded service on its… Continue reading

From left to right, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding students Krystol Pasecznyk and Scott McNair sand a Prothero Sloop with Sean Koomen, the school’s boat building program director. Koomen said the sanding would take one person a few days. He said the plan is to have 12 people sand it together, which will take a few hours. (Elijah Sussman/Peninsula Daily News)
Wooden boatbuilding school building ‘Twin Boats’

Students using traditional and cold-moulding construction techniques