Vashon’s fire district is kicking off a long-range planning process that may ultimately determine whether it seeks more tax revenue to boost its emergency response capabilities.

A group of about 30 islanders representing both Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) and the public met for the first time last week to begin what Fire Chief Hank Lipe called a transparent process of crafting a strategic plan to guide the district over the next several years. In the coming months, Lipe said, the group — called the Strategic Planning Oversight Team (SPOT) — will work to present islanders with information about the fire district’s current abilities to respond to medical emergencies and fires and to gauge public sentiment.

“They really need to understand what our capabilities are, what they’re getting for their money and if it’s acceptable or not,” Lipe said. “If it’s not acceptable, what do they really want?”

Lipe and other VIFR officials have said that while they’re pleased with the district’s current response capabilities, the agency is also facing a gradually increasing number of calls as well as other challenges.

Medical emergencies have gradually increased on Vashon in recent years, from a little over 800 calls in 2001 to more than 1,100 calls in 2013. What’s more, transports to off-island hospitals — which put responders off the island for about three hours at a time — have more than doubled in nearly a decade, rising from 271 ferry transports in 2005 to 714 in 2013. Officials say they’re unsure if numbers will continue to rise, but the trend could be due to the island’s aging population or a result of more people going without health insurance or regular health care. During that time, paid staffing has changed little.

“We’ve been running on the same amount of tax levy for a long time,” Lipe said.

With two paramedics and two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) on staff at all times, the department can respond to about one and half calls, according to Assistant Chief George Brown, with a half call indicating it is able to send responders to give care but not to take patients to the hospital. Volunteers are often on duty as well, Brown said, making the district able to respond to up to two and a half calls at a time. But when volunteers aren’t available or more calls come in, response times can grow longer. A few times a month, Brown said, the station is forced to put a call out for any Vashon responders who are available, at home or otherwise, to report for duty.

“For us, it makes our vulnerability of getting caught without resources to respond much greater. … I hold my breath quite often hoping my guys get cleared from the previous call,” Brown said.

Bolstering VIFR’s abilities and reducing response times could require hiring more responders. But Brown noted the district could also opt to further increase its volunteer program or make more use of private ambulance services. Transferring patients to private ambulances at the ferry dock, he noted, would drastically reduce the time responders spend off-island. However, unlike Vashon transports, private ambulances bill patients for their rides.

“The good part is most people now have insurance of some sort,” Brown added.

The strategic planning comes just as VIFR is poised to implement a new paramedic program. As soon as this year, Vashon’s paramedics will be absorbed into the rotating South King County Medic One system, a transition some have expressed concerns about but that officials believe will result in better care for patients.

Paramedic Andy Johnson, who is also a member of VIFR’s Strategic Planning Leadership Team, said the upcoming transition makes long-range planning even more critical. The move is expected to create a shortfall of about $400,000 in the district’s $4.7 million annual budget, something the agency already helped offset by carving out a $200,000 reserve fund and not replacing an administrative assistant. The South King County paramedics also won’t be trained to fight fires, as Vashon paramedics are, and they won’t split up to respond to different calls as they do now.

Johnson said he thinks VIFR is currently “on the ragged edge quite a bit” with its response.

“I think it would be nice to see a little deeper level of coverage, personally, and frankly I’d be willing to support whatever funding source was needed to make that happen,” he said. “But I also know … you take a certain amount of risk living in a rural community. You’re never going to get Seattle Fire Department level of coverage.”

Lipe and other VIFR officials emphasized that the planning effort is not an attempt to build support for more taxes, but to gauge whether Vashon residents are satisfied with VIFR’s current response. The district’s local property tax brings in in about $2.3 million for firefighting and emergency medical services (EMS). The countywide Medic One levy funds paramedic coverage.

“People might think this is a mechanism for the district to build a bigger organization, and that’s not it at all,” Lipe said. “We could easily keep this a shell force. … I will give that opinion when I find out what the public wants.”

In the coming weeks members of the SPOT group, who have volunteered to work 40 to 60 hours on the project, will compile information and data about the district and decide how to present it to the public as well as how to collect feedback, be it through public meetings, focus groups or surveys. The SPOT group includes paid and volunteer VIFR staff, as well as representatives of a variety of community groups such as the school district, the senior community, the Hispanic community and VashonBePrepared. Lipe said the district also tried to include a cross-section of islanders, taking into account demographics such as age, income level and political leanings. Other organizations, he said, have incorporated such community oversight into their strategic planning.

“I want the highest level of credibility with this process,” he said. “I’ve got one shot at this. When the strategic plan is finished, it is validated by the process.”

Feedback compiled by the SPOT group will passed on to the Strategic Planning Leadership Team, which includes Lipe, Johnson, board chair Candy McCullough and two volunteer lieutenants. The team will craft a strategic plan for the next five to seven years to be approved by the fire board, which will also consider whether more tax dollars are in order.

“The leadership team will take the goals and information and figure out how to get the most bang for our buck,” said McCullough.

Lipe declined to say whether he think the district should beef up, but said he hopes the public will consider the island’s future needs and decide what they want. Any plan created, he noted, could also be revisited in the coming years.

“We’re ahead of the curve here,” he said. “We want to get this moving now so we’re not in this emergency reaction mode where we make hard decisions.”