With election season approaching, support and opposition to the the proposed tax increase for Vashon Island Fire & Rescue is beginning to be visible.
Fire commissioners voted two weeks ago to ask islanders to support an increase from the current rate of 93 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.50. This week, those groups or individuals supporting the levy or opposing it must file their statements with King County elections. The statements will be included in the voters’pamphlets for the November elections.
At Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, Chief Charlie Krimmert has said the increased funds will would bring in $782,000 more than the operating budget, allowing Krimmert to fund some of the district’s reserve accounts and plan to purchase new fire and aid vehicles. District leaders could return to a planned maintenance schedule for its buildings and respond to three or four calls at time with three career staff and up to four part-time staff on shift. This plan would also give the district enough staff on duty for interior firefighting, which is not always the case currently.
In support of the levy, Rick Wallace is heading Citizens to Rebuild Vashon Fire & Rescue Service. On Monday, he noted that the group is working on a timeline for the campaign, as well as on a budget, communications plan and a website. He added that the proposition — slated to be Prop. 1 on the ballot — has been endorsed by state Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) and Dr. Gary Koch, a longtime island physician, who currently works at Neighborcare.
Meanwhile, Alice Larson, an island demographer who served on the fire department’s recent strategic planning committee, is opposing the effort. She stepped forward to write the “con” statement in the voters’ guide for a variety of reasons, she said. She noted that other islanders have expressed to her that they feel the tax increase is too large — about 60 percent higher than current taxes to the fire district. Moreover, she added, previous district leaders indicated that the paramedic transition to South King County Medic One would cost Vashon Island Fire & Rescue $400,000 a year. Next year, the shortfall is projected to be $1.2 million — a much larger deficit that appears to her to have grown quickly in a very short time. She added that she has concerns about projected staffing levels. With the creation of a program to bring in as many as 24 part-time paid personnel on top of three new career firefighters, she said she believes the number of people on shift would exceed typical call volume.
“It is not adding up,” she said.
Islanders have not voted to raise taxes for the fire district since the fall of 1990. At the time, Vashon’s total assessed value was approximately $695,000,000, according to Hazel Gantz at the King County Assesssor’s Office. The levy rate islanders approved then — $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed home value, the same as the current proposal — brought in approximately $1 million. Currently, the total of assessed value for property on Vashon is $2.5 billion and expected to be nearly $3 billion next year, resulting in $4.5 million in revenue for the district, if the measure passes.
