SEQUIM — Cuts and deficits no longer loom in the immediate future for firefighters and paramedics for the immediate future following Clallam and Jefferson county voters’ decision to increase Clallam County Fire District 3’s levy lid lift, the fire chief said.
Counts on Tuesday and Wednesday district-wide show 7,946, or 60.52 percent, voted in favor of increasing the levy rate from $1.26 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, while 5,183, or 39.48 percent voted against the increase.
In Clallam County, 7,801, or 60.65 percent, voted in favor of increasing the levy rate while 5,061, or 39.35 percent, voted against it.
The count in Jefferson County was 145, or 54.31 percent, in favor and 122, or 45.69 percent, opposed.
The two auditor’s offices plan more counts on Friday.
“The lid lift wasn’t to do new things,” said Fire District 3 Chief Ben Andrews. “It’s to provide the level we’re at now.
“We weren’t trying to add something; [voters] knew we were just trying to keep the machine going.”
Fire District staff estimates an owner of a $250,000 home would pay an additional $60 in property taxes for the levy lid lift in 2019.
The measure is expected to generate more than $1 million in new revenue for the district and about $8.3 million over six years.
Andrews said because they won’t be deficit spending, fire commissioners and staff will discuss how much of the lid lift can support a facilities and apparatus plan.
Fire department leaders will discuss balancing the budget and restoring such items as training and replacing an ambulance, that were cut to make up for the anticipated $300,000 deficit.
“This really restores us back to operating normal,” Andrews said.
The lid lift prevents potential staff and service cuts in 2022, fire district staff said.
Fire District 3’s annual $9 million budget comes from a general levy at 68 percent, an EMS levy at 26 percent, charges for service at 3 percent, timber tax funds at 2 percent, and donations and grants at 1 percent.
Since 2011, fire leaders say calls for service increased by 33 percent, leaving them practically no time for training. Fire commissioners also turned down a federal grant in September 2017 to add six firefighters because it would have cut $1.1 million into reserves over three years.
Andrews said that since the lid lift passed, the district might consider applying again.
Fire District 3 officials hosted a number of public meetings about the levy lid lift.
“We feel we communicated the need to the community well,” Andrews said.
“We actually got a lot of good feedback on how were going about it.”
And while the levy lid lift sets up the district with consistent funding over the next six years, Andrews said that unless the system of funding in Washington state changes — the fire district levy and other junior taxing district levies are constricted by a 1 percent cap per year increase that Washington state voters approved in 2001 — he knows Fire District 3 will be back to ask voters for support in just a few years.
“This is the new normal,” Andrews said. “We don’t want to be back every couple of years [with] voter fatigue.”
For more information, call 360-683-4242 or visit www.ccfd3.org.
________
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 mnash@sequimgazette.com.