Will Pierce County lose firefighters? Early results for contentious fire levy are in
Update:
A levy that has paid for staffing, maintenance and operations at the Key Peninsula Fire Department every four years since 2012 has failed, election results show.
After holding out hope following the Nov. 5 count that the “yes” votes would inch upward and clear the 60 percent supermajority the levy needed to pass, Key Peninsula Fire spokesperson Anne Nesbit finally said the department is planning a Board of Commissioners meeting Nov. 18 to go over a new budget.
“It’s disappointing,” Nesbit told The News Tribune Tuesday afternoon. “We didn’t want to be here.”
The Pierce County Auditor indicates that the levy received 6,401 “yes” votes (59.79%) and 4,304 “no” votes (40.21%) as of the most recent release at 3:20 p.m. Friday. Voter turnout stood at 80.91%.
Nesbit said she was going to receive a cost-of-living wage increase, but gave it up to help the department.
“Other people are doing what they can to help, too,” she said. “Honestly it’s going to be an internal team effort to make our proposed budget fly.”
The department needs to submit their budget to Pierce County by the end of the month, according to Nesbit.
Initial post:
Early election results showed the Key Peninsula Fire Department’s maintenance and operations (M&O) levy failing by less than 1% Tuesday night.
Proposition No. 1 - Property Tax Levy for Maintenance and Operation Expenses had 5,082 votes (59.81%) in favor and 3,415 votes (40.19%) against so far, according to the Pierce County Auditor. It needs 60 percent to pass.
The next batch of results is expected to be released at 6 p.m. Wednesday at results.vote.wa.gov/results/20241105/pierce/.
There are 14,037 registered voters eligible to vote on the measure and there was a turnout of 63.58%, according to the Pierce County Auditor as of 1 p.m. Thursday.
Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit told The News Tribune that the margin is very close and the levy could still pass, with “yes” votes falling short only tenths of a percent.
“We would love to see 60 percent right now, but we’re cautiously optimistic,” Nesbit said.
She said that this is the closest margin she’s seen in her time with the department. Nesbit has worked for Key Peninsula Fire since 2008.
There were a total of 8,925 ballots submitted and 8,497 have been counted so far, she told The News Tribune at 8:34 p.m.
The measure would allow Pierce County Fire Protection District No. 16 to collect $800,000 in property taxes at a rate of $0.17 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to the Pierce County Voter’s Pamphlet. That’s about $85 annually in taxes for the owner of a $500,000 home, or $7.08 a month, according to a chart released by the fire department.
Voters approved an equal four-year levy in 2012, 2016 and 2020. This year’s election would renew it for 2024 to 2028, the voters’ pamphlet says.
The levy would pay for staffing, maintenance of existing facilities and the purchase and maintenance of equipment, Key Peninsula Fire Chief Nick Swinhart told The News Tribune prior to the August primary.
Losing that funding could force the department to make cuts, particularly to staff, though Swinhart told The News Tribune more recently that the department has enough money in reserves to ride out the impacts of a failed levy through at least 2025. Firefighter cuts could also result in closing one of the department’s three staffed stations, which could increase response times to parts of the peninsula, Swinhart and Key Peninsula Fire spokesperson Anne Nesbit told The News Tribune last month.
They also put the levy before voters on the Aug. 6 primary ballot. That time, it fell a few percentage points short of the 60% supermajority needed to pass.
The levy has been a subject of controversy because of an unpopular real estate decision the fire department made previously, The News Tribune reported. The department purchased three parcels of land in Key Center for about $2.1 million with a bond they took out in 2021 to build a new headquarters, training facility and health clinic. None of those have been built so far and some residents have criticized the department for poor decision-making and a lack of transparency in recent town halls. Other residents have emphasized that the levy and real estate bond are two separate funding mechanisms and say punishing the fire department by rejecting the levy doesn’t make sense.
“With increasing call volumes (up 39% since 2016!), proposed industry changes, and infrastructure developments, a “no” vote could negatively impact any community member’s call for help, when the day comes,” the statement for the measure said in the voters’ pamphlet.
There was no statement submitted against the measure.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:25 PM.
