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Voters in Cle Elum next week will decide the fate of Proposition 1, a proposed five-year tax levy that would raise an estimated $112,000 annually for maintenance and operations of the Cle Elum Volunteer Fire Department. Supporters say the funding is crucial to both firefighter safety and the continued effectiveness of the department.
The proposed levy would be collected from 2016 through 2020 and would cost property owners $0.50 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation annually or about $75 on a home valued at $150,000. The increase would raise the city’s regular property tax levy from $2.29 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation currently to $2.79 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.
If approved by voters, Proposition 1 money will be used for present and future capital needs including engine, ambulance and aid car replacement, personal protective equipment replacement, training and station maintenance and operations.
A community oversight committee will be established to oversee how the Proposition 1 money is spent.
Where the money will go
Fire Chief Dave Campbell said that according to research he’s done, Proposition 1 is only the second time in the department’s 112-year history that the department, which receives funding from the city, has gone to the community for tax support. The first time, Campbell said, was in 1988 when a one-year levy was passed to raise money for a new fire engine.
But current funding from the city — just under $79,000 last year — isn’t sufficient to meet upcoming needs, Campbell said.
“To be honest, there are three big things,” said Campbell, who has been chief for nine years and a member of the department for 23.
“One is that our engines are starting to get old. They are still working but are going eventually need to be replaced. (The engine bought in 1988 is now 27 years old. The second is 16 years old.) At $300,000 to $500,000 for an engine that’s a lot of money,” he said. “The second thing would be bunker gear. That’s the boots, pants, jackets, the helmets — personal protection equipment. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends that they be replaced after 10 years. It’s a recommendation, not a requirement or law.”
But there’s a catch, he said.
While there’s no regulation requiring the gear be replaced that often, the Washington State Fire Training Center in North Bend adheres to the NFPA standard. “So we can’t train there if our equipment doesn’t meet the NFPA recommendation,” said Campbell, who frequently has made it clear in public comments that firefighter safety is a top concern. “Safety is priority one for me. They go home at night. Realistically, if we’re not safe we can’t help anybody.”
Training
The third part is training.“Training is crucial for two reasons: firefighter safety and our ability to do the job at hand,” Campbell said. “And it is a critical part of volunteer recruitment and retention. When people volunteer they are usually an adrenaline junkie. But due to new building codes and other changes, we don’t have as many fires as we used to have. So volunteers, sometimes they lose interest.”
Campbell calls practice burns, having a quality facility in which to train and having high quality instructors who come in to teach crucial for retention.
“You can only go down to Price Chopper and spray water so often” without losing interest, he said.
Other fire levies
There hasn’t been vocal, organized opposition to the proposal.
Members of the Cle Elum Volunteer Firefighters Association, a community group separate from the fire department itself, are working to support the levy. Jodi Larsen, a community member acting as spokesperson, said the cost per thousand of the proposed fire department levy in Cle Elum is a bargain compared to other fire department levies in the county.
“Roslyn and Cle Elum are the only places that don’t currently have fire department levies,” she said.
According to information from a brochure prepared by the committee, fire department levies in other local communities range from $1.68 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Ellensburg to $1.11 per thousand in Thorp, $0.53 per thousand in Ronald, $0.91 per thousand in District 7, $1.50 per thousand in District 8 Kachess, $0.71 per thousand in Easton and $0.52 per thousand in Vantage.
Campbell said the expectation is that the city will continue to provide the level of funding it has been providing and that the fire department levy would supplement that.
“The (city) money stays in our budget. The new money would be on top of that,” he said.
However, Cle Elum City Administrator Rob Omans notes that while that may be the expectation, “ultimately it is up to the city council to make that decision.”
What happens if voters say no
Larsen said most of the people she’s spoken with “have been very supportive. Honestly, it’s the cost of a good latte to make sure these men and women are safe when they respond to a call,” she said.
Campbell said that “comparatively when you look around the county we’re not asking for a lot. We’re trying to be proactive. We’re trying to come up to the mandates of 2015 and make sure we’re covered.”
But if the measure does fail, “we’re not ready to pull up roots and disappear,” he said. “But we are going to struggle.”
Originally published by the Ellensburg Daily Record.