— from San Juan County Sheriff’s Guild —
We, the membership of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Guild urge you to vote Yes on Proposition 1 to upgrade emergency communication systems county-wide. Our current system is approximately 50 years old, with large gaps in radio coverage, and with no built in redundancies.
The unique geography and topography of our beautiful county make radio communications a challenge, leaving large sections of San Juan, Orcas, and Lopez with minimal radio reception.
Many of our partners in the Fire and Emergency Medical Service live in these radio “dead-zones” and are dispatched by radio.
A recent example of our current deficiency involved an interagency rescue operation at Watmough Bay on the south end of Lopez Island. Responders from the Sheriff’s Office, Lopez Fire and EMS, as well as Orcas Fire technical rescue personnel had difficulty communicating due to radio signals being shielded by terrain. Emergency communications in this event would have been greatly improved by the proposed upgrade.
The proposed upgrade utilizes the countywide fiber-optic network to vastly increase the number of transmitters from 7 to 58. The use of existing infrastructure is cost effective, in that it supplants the need to build an entirely new system, saving millions of taxpayer dollars.
The proposed funding is a sales tax increase of 0.2% for the first 60 months of adoption, and 0.05% for maintenance going forward. This amounts to 2 cents on every $10 of taxable purchases for the first five years and half of one cent on the same purchases in the future. This small tax burden will be borne by all potential users of emergency services, i.e., residents and visitors alike. This funding is dedicated and only be used for Emergency Services.
Please join the Deputies, Sergeants, Detectives, Corrections Officers, and Dispatchers of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Guild in voting “YES” on Proposition 1.
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We support this method to improve an system that was installed 50 years ago. The reasonable and logical method of funding this communication system is a sales tax. This communication system serves people who own property, who rent property and who visit the San Juan Islands. VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION ONE, TO IMPROVE OUR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM.