Kevin O'Brien, Club President and Chief of the Lake Stevens Fire gave an informational presentation on Proposition 1, the Lake Stevens Fire Levy Lid Lift on July 13th. Proposition 1 will be on the August 7th Primary election ballot.
Kevin began the information presentation with a photo of a fire truck from 1948-49. The Lake Stevens Fire District was formed in 1947. Since that time, Lake Stevens has grown significantly and the volume of calls has increased substantially each year. The District is an all career fire district now with highly trained professionals.
The State has mandated limiting Fire Districts to levying Fire and EMS to the same amount of revenue each year plus a 1% annual increase. To respond to the demand for services in the Lake Stevens Fire District, the district is asking voters to authorize a Fire Levy Lid Lift during the August 7th Primary Elections. The fire levy has fallen from $1.50 to $1.23 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The 27 cent lid lift would cost the owner of a $325,000 home $7.31 per month or $87.75 per year.
Funding would be used to maintain emergency service levels, which includes providing additional staffing at Station 82 on Chapel Hill Road.
Daily operations at Lake Stevens Fire are funded primarily through two voter-approved Fire and EMS levies paid through property taxes. These levies fall over time, as outlined above, which is why they occasionally ask voters to "lift the lid" to maintain funding for emergency services.
Fire suppression has been very busy with a fire in Northwest Lake Stevens causing damage in the $1.2 to $1.3 million to two homes which happened from fire works. Another was a suspicious trash can fire at the Lake Stevens Post Office.
The services that the Lake Stevens Fire offers includes some of the following: fire suppression and prevention; emergency medical services (EMS) which includes basic life support with firefighters/EMT's and advanced life support (ALS) with firefighters and paramedics; technical rescue; public education and safety programs; community events; initiating surface swimmer program this summer to name just a few items on their regular agendas.
Kevin is prevented from asking members or the public to support Proposition 1. The program was well presented with key information for everyone to consider and a very worthwhile cause.
As a result, Gary O'Rielly, Club Secretary and a supporter of Proposition 1 asked Club members to vote in favor of the ballot measure on the August 7th Primary Ballot election. Many other members commented that they were in support of Proposition 1.