PORT TOWNSEND — East Jefferson Fire-Rescue officials plan two public meetings this week in support of three ballot measures they say are needed to maintain adequate emergency services.
“We are asking voters to approve raising property taxes by about $150 for a $350,000 home,” Chief Gordon Pomeroy said.
“This is needed in order to maintain the services that people have come to expect.”
Ballots will be sent to 14,790 registered voters Wednesday.
Ballots must be postmarked or returned to the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, by 8 p.m., Tuesday, April 27, to be counted in the all-mail election.
One of the measures will be on ballots for residents of Port Townsend only, which has fire and emergency services provided by the district through a services contract.
The other two will be presented only to those in the fire district who live outside the city limit, including Cape George, Chimacum, Irondale, Kala Point, Marrowstone Island and Port Hadlock.
If approved, increases would be reflected in the 2011 property tax statement.
Two meetings set
The fire district has scheduled two meetings this week to explain the measures. Two such meetings already have occurred.
The two meetings this week, both of which will begin at 7 p.m., will be at the Chimacum Fire Station, 9193 Rhody Drive, on Wednesday and at the Port Townsend Fire Station, 1256 Lawrence St., on Thursday.
The Port Townsend measure will ask voters to approve restoring the city’s emergency medical service levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 assessed value in the city. The current rate is 28 cents per $1,000.
The two measures in the unincorporated areas of the fire district are:
• Proposition 1, which would restore the district’s emergency medical services levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value within the district. The current rate is 32 cents per $1,000.
• Proposition 2, which would restore the fire district’s regular tax levy for fire services to $1 per $1,000 of assessed value. The current rate is 56 cents per $1,000.
Revenues from both the city measure and Proposition 1 would be used only for emergency medical services, while Proposition 2 revenues would go to the district’s general fund.
Without the levies, which maintain previously promised funding levels, the fire district is operating about $250,000 in the hole each year, Pomeroy said.
It has survived on its reserves, he added.
A comfortable reserve level is $2.5 million, Pomeroy said.
At present, the district has about $800,000, but that will increase as soon as tax revenue is distributed.
Pomeroy has spent the past several months urging support for the levies, appearing in front of civic groups and conducting town meetings to gather public input.
Pomeroy said there has been no organized opposition, but he has encountered confusion.
Most centers around the fact that tax increases are not necessarily tied to changes in property assessment.
Pomeroy said voters are also confused about the percentage of the increase.
“There is the notion that these taxes will increase by about 79 percent,” he said. “That’s true, but it’s 79 percent of 50 cents, not 79 percent of the entire tax bill.”
Pomeroy acknowledged that voters have a reflexive opposition to tax increases and will vote against any levy lift on principle, and that this feeling opposition originates from resentment about the high salaries drawn by public officials.
8 percent of revenues
Pomeroy said this argument doesn’t apply to his department, which runs its administrative salaries with 8 percent of revenues.
This is one third of what some government agencies require for operation, he said.
For example, Pomeroy draws a $50,000 salary, just more than half of that of his predecessor.
But the department won’t be able to pay its chief $50,000 forever.
“When I retire, they will have to set a fair salary for the next person in order to attract someone capable,” he said.
The department currently employs 22 firefighters, with four vacancies. If passed, the levy would provide the money to fill those vacancies.
“Two of our firefighters are currently receiving training as paramedics,” Pomeroy said.
“That will go a long way to provide the service that we will need in the future.”
Even though every registered voter can participate in the election, only property owners will be affected by the outcome.
For information prepared by the district in support of the ballot proposals, go to www.ejfr.org/levy_facts.html.
Any registered voter who has not received a ballot by the end of this week should phone the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office at 360-385-9115
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie. bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.