Tax levies on ballot for both East Jefferson fire departments

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Inflation is starting a bonfire with everyone’s checkbooks, including multiple fire departments.

Jefferson County Fire Protection District 4, home to the Brinnon Fire Department, is bringing its own set of tax propositions to the ballot for the upcoming special election on Feb. 14.

The measures separately ask voters to authorize a property tax levy lid lift to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value for general maintenance and operations of the fire department, as well as 50 cents per $1,000 for Emergency Medical Services.

Currently, the district receives 93 cents for general fire services and 36 cents for EMS.

The owner of a $500,000 home would pay a total of $645 this year under the current combined taxes, and $1,000 in 2024 if both measures pass.

While District 1 has a similar set of propositions, the residence address on record for voters will determine on which they vote and pay.

The last time voters in District 4 were asked for a levy lid lift was in 2013.

“With inflation and so on, it actually pushed our proposal up a year because we weren’t going to do this until next year,” said Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly.

The department looked at the books over the summer, however, and saw the need now.

While the decade-long interval between levy lifts is not unusual, its possible inflation rates might be messing with this system.

The next lift for Brinnon could be sooner, Manly noted.

“It depends on what the economy does. We could be back in seven years if the economy keeps going the way it is,” Manly said.

Initiative 747, passed in 2001 after being brought to the ballot by Tim Eyman, limits increases in property tax levies for fire districts to 1 percent per yer plus the value of new construction.

“Before, we were able to go with what the market was doing,” Manly said. “Over the course of 10 years we’ve only had a 1 percent raise per budget, but you can see just in 2023 alone inflation went up 9 percent, so just like everybody else it hurts.”

The annual budget for the department is below a million dollars, and doesn’t carry a large reserve the way District 1 — with its multimillions — is able to.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that because we are a small fire district,” Manly said. “We carry just enough over so that it’ll get us through to the next month.”

If the department needs anything big like a new fire truck or other apparatus, it has a different way of approaching voters.

“When we need something that goes above and beyond, we go to them and ask for a bond,” Manly said.