PORT ORCHARD — South Kitsap Fire and Rescue Chief Steve Wright should enjoy his impending Alaskan fishing vacation a touch more with the passage of Proposition 1 on Election Day, Aug. 1, which was a property tax levy lid lift proposal to fund services provided by SKFR.
It was approved by fire district voters with a 62.3 percent vote to approve the measure. on Aug. 1 election day. Voting not to approve Proposition 1 were 37.7 percent of the voters. The raw vote count was 8,103 selecting “yes” and 4,896 marking “no” on the single-measure ballot.
“I’m really pleased with the results tonight,” Wright said minutes after the vote count was tallied by the Kitsap County Elections Division.
“We just needed a simple majority to pass, but 62 percent was a good margin.”
Wright said there wasn’t a specific percentage he was shooting for. “We’re just gratified with the support of the community. It’s tough to get people to vote when there’s a single-item ballot.”
The measure called for an increase in SKFR’s regular property tax levy to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. The new levy rate will be assessed beginning next year. The funding is for fire protection and emergency medical services over a six-year period.
The levy represents more than $2 million of SKFR’s yearly operating budget. According to the district, its 2017 budget projects revenue and expenditures of $15.4 million.
In 2012, fire district voters approved the renewal of the existing Fire and Emergency Medical Services levy, which was set at $1.48 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Fire district commissioners, who placed the levy measure on the Aug. 1 primary ballot, estimated the increase will cost the average homeowner an additional $3.50 per month, or about $42 a year.
Wright noted in the Independent’s voter guide that SKFR “has been challenged with operating costs increasing at a rate greater than revenue in recent years.” He said the difficult measures created financial breathing room in his budget and helped stabilize the fire district.
Wright also said the levy renewal allows the fire district to keep pace with South Kitsap’s growth. The additional funding restores cuts that had been made that forced the district to reduce firefighter/EMT staffing by 12 employees and remove staffing from three fire stations.
South Kitsap’s fire district serves Port Orchard, Orchard Heights, Retsil, Manchester, Olalla, Burley, Glenwood, Sunnyslope, Navy Yard City and Gorst, which is an area of 117 square miles with a population of 75,018. In 2016, SKFR received 9,520 calls, 6,380 of those EMS incidents.
