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Statement
For:
Approval
of this excess levy request will enable Lacey Fire District
No. 3 to maintain the current level of response to the fire
and emergency medical needs of our community.
In
2001, the District’s career and volunteer firefighters responded
to 7,189 calls for emergency assistance from the community.
The majority of responses, 5,278, were for emergency medical
services. The number of emergency responses is currently increasing
more than twice as fast as population growth. These emergencies
take place every hour of the day, every day of the week.
The
population of the Lacey Fire District community, both the City
of Lacey and Thurston County areas, has grown more than 27%
since 1990. However, Lacey Fire District is now responding to
120% more emergency calls than in 1990. It is expected that
this trend will continue as more people become accustomed to
dialing 9-1-1 when there is an emergency.
Currently,
Lacey Fire District protects more than 68,000 residents and
almost $4.0 billion in property over a 70 square mile area.
The increase in service demand has caused a proportionate increase
in staffing by both career and volunteer members, who deliver
the service through three 24-hour staffed and four volunteer
stations in key locations throughout the community.
Despite
the challenges, Lacey Fire District maintains extremely high
quality, caring service through dedicated personnel at half
the cost, per person, of comparable jurisdictions.
When
you call, Lacey Fire District responds. Your help is needed
to assure they can continue to serve you.
Voters’ Pamphlet statement prepared by: K. Frank
Kirkbride, Judy Wilson, Skip Houser, Alan Corwin, Jim Broman
and Joel Graham
Rebuttal
for Statement Against:
Our
community relies on the fire department when they have an emergency.
Lacey Fire District is dedicated to service – whatever service
the citizens of the District believe they need and does not
advocate any concept that will cause a citizen to not dial 9-1-1.
Lacey
Fire District Commissioners are very interested in the concept
of “benefit charge.” Although this and other funding concepts
are being investigated, the excess levy is the fairest funding
method known.
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Statement
Against:
The firefighters and
paramedics of Lacey Fire District are very dedicated, friendly,
well trained, professionals and volunteers that provide an extremely
valuable and important service to the citizens of the district.
Over the past 54 years, the Lacey Fire District has been there
for us, when we call 9-1-1, they respond.
There
has been a significant increase in calls to 911 for “emergency
medical services” during the past several years.
The
number of emergency calls has increased from 64 per 1,000 people
ten years ago to more than 110 per 1,000 people today. Many
of us are using the fire department for minor medical problems
that were once handled by mom’s chicken soup or a trip to the
family doctor. Maybe some of us need to think twice before we
call 9-1-1 when we have the sniffles or a hurt finger.
If
the demand for emergency medical services continues to increase
the current levy request will not cover the costs of service.
In
the past there has been talk of using more volunteers to save
money. Lacey Fire District No. 3 now uses more than 60 volunteer
firefighters and 60 other dedicated volunteers in support of
the 55 career firefighters. More volunteers is not the answer.
Another
method of paying for the service must be found.
A
“benefit charge” that levies tax on those that most use the
medical services rather than a single rate property tax levy
needs to be investigated and put before the voters. Only then
can the revenue hope to keep pace with the increased demands
for the services provided by the Lacey Fire District.
Voters’
Pamphlet statement prepared by: Edward Cleeves
Rebuttal
for Statement For:
Existing
law allows the Fire District to raise their annual budget only
by 1% without a vote of the citizens, but the demand for service
is going up at an average annual rate of 12%.
The existing
method of a property tax levy can no longer provide the money
to meet the demands that “we the people” are putting on the
system.
We need
to find a new way to fund this most valuable service.
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