LETTER: Supports tax proposal for Clallam Fire District No. 3

Fourteen years ago, the voters approved a real estate tax increase to $1.50 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation for our Clallam County Fire District No. 3 (Sequim, eastern Clallam County, and the Blyn/Gardiner area) fire and rescue squads.

Because of a peculiarity of Washington law, this rate has since declined to about $1.26.

According to District 3, call volumes have increased 33 percent in the past seven years and tripled in the past 20 years.

That is primarily due to calls for emergency medical service because the median age of our community is 59.

More calls mean added costs for personnel, supplies, fuel and the like.

District 3 officials say they are mindful that so many people live on fixed incomes.

But after 14 years the District 3 Commissioners out of necessity have decided that additional funding is needed to continue the high quality service that our area expects.

They are placing a proposal on the November ballot to restore the rate to $1.50 in 2019.

This basically just represents an adjustment for 14 years of inflation, and amounts to an approximate increase of about $60 per year for a home with an assessed valuation of $250,000.

District 3 service is not just nice to have; it is literally a matter of life and death.

The next life to be saved might be yours.

Please vote “yes” in November for Clallam County Fire Protection District No. 3 Proposition No. 1.

Ted Miller,

Sequim