Editor’s Note: This week, The Beachcomber continues its coverage of candidates who will appear on Vashon’s Nov. 7 ballot, seeking to serve as commissioners of taxing districts on Vashon. This week, meet the candidates seeking to retain their seats on the board of Vashon Island Fire & Rescue. This article also includes a recap of the district’s proposed “levy lid” ballot measure, to appear on the Aug. 4 election ballot.

The deadline to file as a candidate was Friday, May 19.

Three current commissioners — Brigitte Schran Brown, Jim Whitney and Candy McCollough — are running unopposed to retain their seats on the fire district’s board.

The November ballot will show Adam Knez opposing McCollough, but Knenz said in May that he had withdrawn from the race, for personal reasons.

Brigitte Schran Brown, Fire Commissioner Position #3

Shran Brown was appointed to the fire board in 2022, following the resignation of Commissioner Andy Johnson. Schran Brown had previously served a six-year term as a fire commissioner, which ended in 2021.

Her 40-year career has included work as a social worker, a nurse, a nonprofit business owner, medical grant writer, and a 20-year VIFR volunteer EMT.

In a statement, Schran Brown said that she has been honored, as an EMT, to care for islanders ranging from newborns to elders.

“I have responded to residential fires, vehicle and boating accidents, cliff rescues and quicksand extraction,” she said. “I worked tirelessly with our Medical Reserve Corps to successfully combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As a commissioner, she helped develop VIFR’s strategic plan, pushed through critical programs, and made “sometimes painful decisions that ultimately helped us become a better and stronger fire district,” she said. Additionally, Schran Brown has procured more than $500,000 in successful grants for the district.

“Sadly, I have also experienced the nightmare of being the only available EMT when concurrent calls have taken all other staff and aid rigs off the island at the same time, or having aged aid rigs fail mechanically while racing to a call,” she said. “As commissioner, I will continue to work on solving these and other problems that are the direct result of prior inadequate funding.”

Jim Whitney, Fire Commissioner Position #5

Whitney was appointed in April to fill the seat of John Simonds, who was elected as commissioner in 2021. Simonds died suddenly in March.

He is a long-time island resident that was raised on the island, through high school, and subsequently returned to Vashon in 1992 to raise his family after approximately six years away.

Between 1992 and 2006 he was a member of VIFR as a volunteer, resident, career firefighter, paramedic, and Battalion Chief of Training. In 2006, he made a lateral move to the Redmond Fire Department, where he has worked his way through the ranks to his current position as EMS Division Chief. In this position, he is responsible for basic life support (BLS), advanced life support (ALS), and mobile integrated community health (MICH) response throughout Northeast King County.

“My wife, Stacey, and I have continued to live on Vashon and have been embedded in the community through youth sports and school events as we raised our two children who graduated from Vashon High School in 2014 and 2016,” Whitney said, in a statement. “My familiarity of the community of Vashon Island, King County fire/EMS operations, and state and federal laws related to the fire service will be an added value to the board of commissioners. Providing essential fire and medical services to all the neighborhoods of an isolated and diverse community is a complex undertaking that is critical and deserves a thoughtful approach without being distracted by individual special interests.”

“I am excited about the opportunity to support the community of Vashon Island in this way, and look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure Vashon is provided the highest level of fire/EMS and community health services possible,” he said.

Candy McCullough, Fire Commissioner Position #4

“My commitment to our community is and has always been to provide reliable professional (career and volunteer) emergency services to those in need on Vashon,” said Candy McCullough, who has long been affiliated with VIFR and is currently running for re-election to a third term as fire commissioner. “Fire commissioners are responsible for deciding how to allocate your tax dollars and deliver the best possible public safety services.”

“I hope the voters recognize me as a tireless advocate for creating a strong emergency response team within our financial limitations,” she said.

McCullough has served on several fire departments in a 44-year career in fire service in Colorado and Washington state. She has 35-plus years with VIFR, as a firefighter, EMT, lieutenant, line & training captain, recruit academy director, and fire commissioner.

“Along with my 32 years as a Boeing career firefighter, EMT, Lieutenant, Fire Inspector, an International Association of Fire Fighters executive officer and negotiator, and seven years as President of the National Association of Emergency & Fire Officials, my experience and expertise are extensive,” McCullough said. “I promise to stay informed, to be transparent and advocate for quality affordable services for all.”

Voters will decide on levy lift

The race comes at a consequential time for the district, as the Aug. 4 election will also include a measure seeking approval from voters for a levy “lid lift” that would authorize Vashon Island Fire & Rescue to increase its levy rate from about $1.13 per $1,000 of assessed value this year to $1.50 — the maximum allowed by state law — in 2024.

For the following five years, through 2030, the district could increase its property tax collections by another 6 percent each year.

Funding the levy, according to Fire Chief Matt Vinci, is critical to adequately meet the current and future needs of the island for timely and effective emergency response.

“I don’t want to minimize the tax burden,” Vinci said. “But it’s reinvesting in the safety of our island and putting an effective deployment model in place.”

Passage of the levy, he said, would enable VIFR to enact the district’s arching new strategic plan, also passed earlier this year after a months-long process that included meetings with community members and stakeholders, as well as community survey that drew responses from more than 300 islanders.

The strategic plan, viewable here, calls for the district to address shortcomings including its rapidly aging fleet, unstaffed fire stations with poor proximity to some parts of the island, and currently insufficient staffing levels which regularly threaten its capability to respond to simultaneous calls.

“Since January 1, we’ve had over 125 instances where we’ve experienced simultaneous calls – when we’ve had an aid car at an incident or transporting off island, and a second aid call or fire call comes in,” Vinci said, last week. “We are currently challenged to adequately respond to the second 911 call – which is frustrating as the island deserves better.”

Levy passage would enable the district to add two firefighter/EMTs at the currently unstaffed Burton Station, halving response times to the south end of the island, Vinci said, saving lives and property.

In addition, staffing the Burton Station would ensure that the district’s Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) Fire Protection rating remains at its current property class protection.

Insurance companies use WSRB ratings — set to be re-evaluated on Vashon in August — to calculate homeowners’ insurance rates. If Burton’s fire station remains unstaffed, Vinci said, it could result in a worst-case scenario of doubling insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties in the surrounding Burton area and south to Tahlequah, and west to Wax Orchard — a cost for those homeowners that would be higher than any increase in taxes due to the levy’s passage.

Dollars and cents

Vashon voters approved a similar six-year levy-lid measure for the district in 2017. It expires after this year; if voters don’t give their blessing to another lift this year, by state law VIFR’s property-tax revenue increases would be limited to 1 percent in 2024 and each succeeding year.

The lift needs “yes” votes from a simple majority of those voting to pass.

Here’s what it would mean in dollars and cents:

This year the owner of a $922,000 home — now the median on Vashon, according to the King County Assessor’s Office — is paying $1,040 in property taxes to the fire district.

If the lid lift passes, that would increase to $1,383 in 2024, a 33 percent increase.

The increase could be more or less if assessed values rise or fall.

According to a recent press release from the King County Assessor’s Office, residential property values are now correcting downwards throughout the county in 2023.

After reaching all-time highs in Quarter 2 of 2022, residential property values are correcting downwards throughout King County in 2023, according to the press release. At the same time, values of commercial office buildings fell by 15% to 20%, reflecting the impact of a transition to less in office work activity.

“COVID changed our lives, and it continues to impact the real estate market,“ said King County Assessor John Wilson. “In 2021 and 2022, residential prices and values went through the roof due to a major imbalance between supply and demand. The housing market is still healthy in King County, but it cooled considerably in 2023, bringing values down.”