North Kitsap Fire & Rescue is putting a measure on the Nov. 8 ballot to restore its levy rate.
Its levy is expiring and to maintain levels of service the rate needs to return to its previously approved level of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Passage would also provide resources to rebuild the district’s outdated Suquamish station, replace some aging apparatus and add additional firefighters, an NKF&R news release says.
The Suquamish fire station is the district’s oldest. It was built in the middle of the last century and, unlike the district’s three other staffed stations, wasn’t designed to withstand an earthquake or meet other modern safety standards.
With average ambulance transport distances of 35 miles round-trip, NKF&R’s medic and aid cars rack up miles quickly. The district needs to order one new ambulance as soon as possible, and will rechassis three others over the next few years. Also, NKF&R plans to create three firefighter positions to help guarantee consistent staffing while reducing overtime costs.
In 2022, NKF&R is collecting about 97 cents per $1,000 valuation. As property values increase, the rate goes down. The district says restoration of the fire levy rate will only result in a total fire tax rate in 2023 that’s just 11 cents per $1,000 higher than in 2022.
The Kitsap County assessor estimates that the 2022 median assessed valuation of a home in NKF&R’s district is $453,910. In 2023, the median assessed valuation is expected to rise to $550,840. Restoration of the fire levy would cost the owner of the median home about $230 (or $19 per month) in 2023, the measure’s first year. In the measure’s remaining five years, the fire levy would be limited to annual increases of 1 percent, or the rate of the consumer price index, not to exceed 6 percent.
Interested parties can contact the district for information on impacts to their specific tax bill. The district receives no ongoing federal, state or county funding; NKF&R gets 77 percent of its operating funds through property taxes. Across the county, fire and emergency medical taxes average about 16 percent of each property tax bill.
NKF&R is hosting a series of public meetings. Go to www.nkfr.org.
NKF&R serves Hansville, Kingston, Miller Bay, Indianola and Suquamish across 46 square miles. The district’s 2021 expense budget was $10.2 million. In 2021, crews responded to 3,360 incidents. About two-thirds of all calls were for emergency medical services.
