— from Steven Jung & Susan McBain —
We write in support of the upcoming vote on a taxation levy to fund the Orcas Island Fire and Rescue department. We are personal beneficiaries of the quick, professional, and warmly human services of OIFD, and take some comfort in the future availability of same.
We believe the levy proposal to be both well considered and balanced, in that sweet spot of the perpetual battle between adequate and inadequate tax-funded public services. It would truly be a pity for us to let the revenue for our fire and rescue slip down the steep slope beyond adequate…as we’ve seen too often in the past years (e.g., our ferry services).
Please join us in voting for this levy!
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I too do not want a reduced level of service but our interests are not served by blindly following the recommendations of “our leaders”. We did that in Iraq and look where that got us. I would like to see the budget’s separated and voted on in different levies. One for the EMT’s and EMS. Another for the fire side of things.
It is not uncommon for an organization to bloat which justifies a pay increase for those at the top. I don’t think that is the case here by intention. but we need more information. In the meantime until we get it, VOTE NO!!!!
Harvey – Detailed budget information is readily available from the Fire Department. All you have to do is go in to the fire hall and ask.
Budget and financial information is also available online at http://www.orcasfire.org. There’s a link to the 2014 budget on the home page, and more info News Updates and Meeting Minutes (board of commissioners’ meetings).
Harvey, I appreciate your concern about the levy lid lift.
To give some perspective to my response let me share what transpired at the last levy lid lift. The district had a fire levy at .67 cents per thousand dollars and an EMS of .25 cents. A total of .92 cents in the 1990’s. The district asked the voters for a lift of .43 cents for a total of 1.35 per thousand.
The district has brought our emergency services to what it is today. The capital infrastructure is in place and serving the tax payers well (my opinion). What the Fire district is asking for is to maintain this investment of capital and stay current with the emergency procedures and level of service that we afford.
The question is the last levy was for a mil rate of 1.35, we are asking to maintain our currant status of quality for 1.05 mil rate. The original again was .67 FIRE and .25 EMS .92 cents then. You can do the math on the difference.
In my opinion, this is a reasonable request, the district has a strong accountability of service, I have personally witnessed this for two decades. Always hold us accountable on our fiduciary matters, that is very much part of the longevity of our institution. Harvey, thanks for your direct questions.
Harvey, I would also like to add that when the existing levy lid lift sunsets the Fire portion maintains at its current mil rate but the EMS portion drops away. When I talked to our county accessor, he explained that EMS levies terminate every 6 years. Our levy lid lift was for 15 years for both Fire and EMS.
As property values rise the mil rate drops, our Fire mil rate is less then .50 cents compared to .67cents back in the 1999 levy time period. So .50 cents of every thousand dollars with a property assessment of approximately 2 billion on orcas is where we would end up with just under One million dollars revenue. Hope this helps.