Understaffed Pierce Co. fire agency asked voters for funds. Early results are in
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Levy lid lift would restore EMS funding to $0.50 per $1,000 of property value.
- District faces $900,000 shortfall in 2026 without voter approval of Proposition 1.
- Key Peninsula Fire district spans 65 square miles and serves roughly 19,000 residents.
Key Peninsula residents are deciding the fate of a measure to secure ongoing funding for their fire department’s emergency medical services, as well as the top runners in a crowded race for fire commissioner this year.
Key Peninsula Fire Department EMS levy results
Early results in the Aug. 5 primary show that a measure to restore the Key Peninsula Fire Department’s EMS levy rate to $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value was passing by a healthy margin Tuesday night. Proposition No. 1 - Multi-Year EMS Levy Lid Lift had 1,850 votes (62.46%) in favor and 1,112 votes (37.54%) against so far, according to the Pierce County Auditor. It requires a simple majority to pass.
The next batch of election results is expected to be released at 4 p.m. Wednesday at https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20250805/pierce/.
Voters approved the $0.50 rate in 2019, but property tax laws have caused that rate to drop to $0.32 per $1,000 in assessed value, Fire Chief Nick Swinhart said in a video about the measure posted on the fire district’s website.
The measure also allows the district to adjust the levied amount up to 6% in the five subsequent years following 2026 as long as the rate doesn’t exceed $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, the Pierce County Voters’ Pamphlet says. Typically, the amount that local jurisdictions can collect can’t exceed 1% more than they collected the previous year, under state law, unless voters approve a levy lid lift to raise that cap.
If the levy lid lift passes, a home valued at $500,000 will pay $250 for the year — an increase of $87.50 from the current rate — or a total of $20.83 per month, per month, according to a chart released by the fire department on social media.
If the lid lift doesn’t pass, the department will face a funding gap of about $900,000 in 2026, a resolution proposing the lid lift says.
Reached via phone Tuesday evening, Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit said the department is “extremely grateful and humbled,” describing the results as “a comfortable margin straight out of the chute.”
“ ... hopefullly it keeps trending in that direction,” she said.
“The Key Peninsula Professional Firefighters are incredibly honored and honestly quite relieved to see such an amazing show of support from the community,” Cameron Bell, a Key Peninsula firefighter and member of the committee in favor of the measure, said in a phone call Thursday. “We are excited to see what this funding will do to increase our capabilities of serving the people from our district.”
The fire district’s proposed levy lid lift comes on the heels of several adjustments the district made to their budget after voters rejected an $800,000 maintenance and operations (M&O) levy last year for the first time since 2012. The funding gap led the fire department to leave a firefighter position vacant, as well as reduce their minimum daily staffing from seven to five personnel which sometimes forced them to temporarily close or “brownout” one of their stations without enough firefighters to work shifts, The News Tribune reported.
Nesbit told The News Tribune in advance of the primary that the EMS levy would reverse some of those effects by allowing the fire department to restore their minimum daily staffing to seven, eliminating the need for brownouts, and fill several vacant firefighter positions.
The failure of the M&O levy last year came amid rising tensions between the district fire commissioners and residents who disagreed with the department’s decision to purchase three parcels of property near their Key Center headquarters for $2.1 million in 2021, using money from a low-interest loan. The board of commissioners had planned to build a new station, training facility and health clinic on the land, but some residents in the months following spoke out, saying they believed the decision was fiscally unwise. Some residents expressed their feelings at town halls and Q&As that at times became heated as the board sought to gather public input on how to proceed.
Key Peninsula Fire Commissioner Pos. No. 1 results
Early results showed Colleen Marie Mullen and Gretchen Schneider leading the primary for the Key Peninsula Fire Department’s open seat on their Board of Fire Commissioners. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November.
Candidates Gretchen Schneider, Jennifer Dow, Colleen Marie Mullen, Josh Johnson and Ed Bressette, Jr. are running for Position No. 1 to replace Commissioner Cambria Queen, who was selected by the board to serve from 2024-2025 for the remainder of Frank Grubaugh’s term, according to the Key Peninsula Fire Department website.
Tuesday’s vote count showed Colleen Marie Mullen had 897 votes (32.76%) and Gretchen Schneider had 676 votes (24.69%) shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Pierce County Auditor.
Josh Johnson received 566 votes (20.67%), Ed Bressette, Jr. received 498 votes (18.19%) and Jennifer Dow received 78 votes (2.85%).
Less than 1% of ballots were cast for write-in candidates.
Mullen said in a phone call Tuesday evening that she’s excited seeing the election’s early results.
“I’m just excited to help my community with my knowledge and experience and background,” she said. “It’s overwhelming, the support, and I appreciate it from everybody.”
Schneider said in a phone call that she was surprised that some of the other candidates didn’t get more votes, but that she wasn’t too surprised by hers and Mullen’s standing.
“The thing is that Mullen and I both have fire backgrounds, so it’s really not shocking to me, and she’s a long-time resident, so I’m not surprised that she has the most votes right now,” Schneider said.
The new commissioner will join the rest of the board in working toward a decision on the future of the Key Center properties, among fulfilling the other duties of the board. State law dictates that a board of fire commissioners “has the power and duty to adopt a seal of the district, to manage and conduct the business affairs of the district, to make and execute all necessary contracts, to employ any necessary services, and to adopt reasonable rules to govern the district and to perform its functions, and generally to perform all such acts as may be necessary to carry out the objects of the creation of the district.”
Pierce County Fire Protection District No. 16 serves a peninsula spanning some 65 square miles, the district website says. The population is about 19,000 residents, according to the most recent U.S. Census data for the four approximate ZIP code areas included in the fire department’s service area.
The district has an annual budget of $11.6 million, spokesperson Anne Nesbit told The News Tribune in a text message Wednesday. They have six fire stations in Wauna, Wright Bliss, Key Center, Home, Longbranch and Herron Island. The Wauna, Home and Longbranch stations are staffed 24-hours, and others are staffed as needed by volunteers. Administrative staff work from the Key Center station during the week.
Visit The News Tribune’s live election results page for more Pierce County primary results.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the most recent figure for the Key Peninsula Fire Department’s annual budget. It has also been updated to include a comment from the committee in favor of the levy lid lift.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM.
