Snoqualmie citizens gathered in the gymnasium of Cascade View Elementary on Thursday, Sept. 22, for the first of two Snoqualmie Town Hall events discussing Proposition 1, a public safety levy that would increase the property tax to fund the hiring of two more police officers and one additional firefighter, which will be on the ballot this November.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson explained that if Proposition 1 passed, property taxes in Snoqualmie would increase by 23 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

One of the reasons the levy is being pursued because many of the city’s one-time revenue sources that came from years of growth and development in the Valley will no longer be available now that most of the development is nearly done.

“We have been one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Washington and have had that continuous title for about a decade,” Larson said.

“We are no longer that, we are slowing down as we approach the slow build-out of Snoqualmie Ridge, which is going to produce its own problems in the next year.

“We are going to start seeing a lot of one-time revenue from all the growth and activity quickly taper off and we have to make sure to close any gaps there.”

Proposition 1 is a way for the city to hire more public safety staff to meet the demands of the growing population.

Police needs

Interim Police Chief Jim Schaffer compared police staffing from 2001 to 2016 and explained what two additional officers would be able to do.

“In 2001 we had 14 commissioned police officers with a population of 2,574. In 2016 we had 14 commissioned police with a population of 13,000,” he said, adding that the limited number of officers made it difficult for the department to achieve the level of service they are striving for.

The two new officers that could be hired would be able to take on detective roles to focus their time on cases, which would leave other officers the ability to be more active in the community and reduce response times, he said.

“Two additional police officers will allows us to maintain the ‘no call too small’ policing model and having dedicated detectives to investigate crimes will allow our officers to be proactive in the community,” Schaffer said.

“We want to maintain our standard of three to five minute response times. When officers are investigating, on calls, they are off the road, in the office, on the phone. The detective doesn’t cover the streets, doesn’t have to answer calls, they can be focused on particular cases.”

Funding for firefighters

Snoqualmie Fire Chief Mark Correira also spoke about his department’s request for an additional firefighter. He said the department had originally attempted to add two firefighter positions in 2012 with the addition of a transport fee on emergency medical services, but it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of two new employees.

“With the EMS transport piece in 2012, the city decided to move ahead with a transport fee program, when we transport somebody to the hospital we will bill their insurance company,” Correira said. “The goal of that program was to try to hire two additional firefighters but unfortunately it was only enough to fund one. That’s why as a last resort, we are coming back to the community to ask to fund that additional firefighter.”

A new firefighter would help to alleviate the under-staffing issues the department has had, Correira said. Right now there are times during a week when only two firefighters are on duty. A new employee would allow them to keep three firefighters on duty at all times.

“Our goal for the fire department is to have a minimum of three firefighters on duty, 24 hours a day. Currently 28 percent of the time we only have about two firefighters on duty and that doesn’t set the stage for a good outcome. That’s why it’s so important for us to have the appropriate number of firefighters,” he said.

“Ensuring unit reliability assures that people will be available, we will have the appropriate people on it, responding to the incident and ultimately it will improve the service,” Correira added.

The city of Snoqualmie has scheduled another town hall event on Proposition 1 for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at Snoqualmie City Hall.

The November General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 8. King County elections are all mail-based. Ballots will be mailed to voters in King County starting Oct. 19.