King County Local Voters Pamphlet

May 18, 2004 Special Elections

Fire Protection District No. 16 Proposition No. 1
Authorizing Property Tax Levy For
Fire And Emergency Services

The Board of Commissioners of King County Fire Protection
District No. 16 adopted Resolution No. 03-21 proposing to levy a regular property tax of One Dollar and 00/100 ($1.00) per One Thousand Dollars ($1000.00) of assessed value upon all the taxable property within the District in 2004 for collection in 2005. This shall not be construed to authorize an excess levy and shall be subject to otherwise applicable statutory dollar rate limitations. Shall the proposition be:
Approved
Rejected

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

King County Fire Protection District 16, your Northshore Fire Department, has placed a proposition on the May 18, 2004 ballot to authorize the property tax levy rate to return to $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The proposition is presented to voters pursuant to Initiative 747, which otherwise limits property tax revenue to 101 percent of the previous year's revenue, regardless of the statutorily authorized dollar rate limitation of $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed valuation that has been in effect since 1990.

This proposition meets the requirements of Initiative 747, which was enacted by the voters of the State of Washington in November of 2001, mandating that the voters approve any increase in property tax revenue of more than one percent over the previous year.

Approval of this proposition would restore the Fire District's statutorily allowed tax rate and maintain the current level of services provided by Fire District. Rejection of the proposition would lead to the loss of approximately $650,000 in projected tax revenue in 2005.

Statement For

Statement Against

Your Northshore Fire Department presently collects the equivalent No Statement Submitted. of $1.47 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to provide you with continu- ous fire and emergency medical services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Without passage of this measure these services could be in jeopardy.

Unlike a City the Fire District has only two major sources, the benefit charge and property taxes. Benefit Charges can be no more than 60% of District revenues and cannot be used for capital expenses. Without restoration of the property tax levy Benefit Charges will need to be increased to maintain our fire and emergency medical services. How- ever, this pattern cannot be continued because very shortly the 60% maximum will be reached and services will need to be cut. We as citizens cannot let vital services of this nature be jeopardized.

Restoring the property tax levy will not increase the operating costs of our fire and emergency medical services or result in any type of windfall for the government. The ratio between the Benefit Charge and the property tax levy will be the only thing that will change.

Vote YES to keep fire services strong — let's keep them here for when we will need them.

STATEMENT PREPARED BY: Sarah Phillips, Tom Traeger

No Statement Submitted.

Updated: Apr. 30, 2004

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