Fire Districts 10 and 38 to consider sending merger proposal to voters again; board meet July 20 and 25
Published 12:01 pm Monday, July 18, 2016
Fire Districts 10 and 38 will meet on a resolution asking voters to combine both agencies into one fire authority on the November General Election ballot, following a failed ballot measure in the April election.
Officials from both fire districts say the merger will protect emergency service levels long-term for the areas they serve.
Fire District 10 will meet to consider the resolution at 4 p.m., Wednesday, July 20, at Eastside Fire and Rescue headquarters, 175 Newport Way NW, Issaquah. The Board of Commissioners for Fire District 38 has scheduled its meeting for 4 p.m. Monday, July 25 at the North Bend Fire Station, 500 Maloney Grove Road, North Bend.
“We are elected to care for the emergency service needs of our community,” said Mike Mitchell, who serves as an elected fire commissioner from Fire District 10 and chairs the planning committee for the fire authority. “We feel this issue is important enough to ask voters to reconsider our request.”
Voters narrowly rejected the proposal in the April special election.
The proposal is projected to result in an average tax decrease for Fire District 10 property owners of 23 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, but an average increase of 20 cents per $1,000 for property owners in Fire District 38. Officials say the current fire levy rate is not sustainable based on future annexations by the cities.
The fire authority would be funded with a traditional fire levy and an annually adjusted, voter-approved benefit charge. Voters in 11 other local Washington communities, including Fire District 10, have approved this funding model.
A benefit charge is based on the size of a structure and its risk for fire. Smaller structures, such as single-family homes, are charged less than larger buildings because it costs less to defend them in a fire.
In the next month, both fire districts will feature a benefit charge calculator on their Web pages, hosted on the Eastside Fire & Rescue website, www.eastsidefire-rescue.org.
