Fire district now includes city

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Voters approved the proposed annexation of the city of Port Townsend into Jefferson County Fire Protection District No. 1 on the special-election ballot Feb. 12.

Within the fire district, Proposition 1 received 2,497 votes in favor, 67.74 percent, to 1,189 votes against, 32.26 percent. And within the city, the proposition received 2,619 votes in favor, 69.21 percent, to 1,165 votes against, 30.79 percent.

“I feel grateful our community supports EJFR at such a high level,” EJFR Chief Jim Walkowski said. “We are a rural community that demands an exceptional level of service from its fire department. We strive to meet this expectation with a limited amount of volunteer and career resources. ... I am confident the election outcome in both the city and the fire district are reflective of this.”

Walkowski said there are “numerous milestones” that now need to be attained, including the expansion of the Board of Fire Commissioners from three to five members. Voters likely will be asked to expand the board on the Aug. 6 primary-election ballot, he said.

If expansion is approved, then EJFR will map out proposed geographical fire districts, which would be subject to voter approval in the general election on Nov. 5. All of three of the current fire district members were elected at-large.

“If approved, this will create five commissioner districts for the purpose of electing fire commissioners equally across the district,” Walkowski said. “The population of each commissioner district is required to be approximately equal. We are confident this process will result in two commissioner districts in the city, two in the county, and one commissioner district that will likely balance on both areas.”

EJFR administrative assistant Emily Stewart said the district’s efforts will focus on improving fire and life safety initiatives throughout its service area.

“Specifically, funds will be utilized to enhance fire-code management services, consisting of plan review, code enforcement and fire investigation services, with the goal of reducing community life, property and other losses due to fire,” Stewart said.

Port Townsend Mayor Deborah Stinson said it was heartening to see the voters’ support of both the annexation and the school levies.

“It wasn’t lost on any of us that this was a big ask in the context of our state’s tax system and funding challenges,” Stinson said.

For city residents, the annexation means fire and EMS line items will disappear from 2020 property tax assessments.

“What remains is the portion of the city general tax that we had been applying to our fire services,” Stinson wrote in an email. “Our first impulse was to have this authority withdrawn, but state law only allows a reduction in general tax authority if we exceed the maximum allowed. That left us with banked capacity that does not require a vote to access, but it does not mean it will be automatically collected.”

The city will not access any of that banked capacity in 2020.

“The city can consider using one-third of the banked capacity in 2021, two-thirds in 2022 and the full amount in 2023,” Stinson said. “Revenues raised from this banked capacity can only be used for affordable housing, streets, parks and utility tax relief, all previously requested by city residents.”

The city also adopted a new policy that requires a public hearing before any of the banked capacity can be considered for the 2021-23 budgets.

Walkowski said the fire district also plans to have public input throughout the process.

“Communicating the complex process of board expansion, development of commissioner districts, and lastly the election of two additional commissioners is vital,” Walkowski said. “We are confident that we can develop the commissioner districts prior to the primary election so voters can visualize each district.”

Reporter Kirk Boxleitner contributed to this report.