 |
Following on the heels of Spokane Valley Fire Department’s successful levy lid lift vote last fall, Fire District 8 – which serves a portion of the southwest part of the Valley – had its own reason to celebrate Tuesday.
Voters in District 8’s coverage area -- which includes part of the Ponderosa neighborhood -- approved Proposition 1 in Tuesday’s special election by 61 percent, 2,806 votes to 1,823. A simple majority of over 50 percent was all that was needed for passage.
The vote restores the fire levy in the area to a level authorized by voters in 1985 and 2005 to $1.50 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
By passing the measure, property owners with a $300,000 home will pay about another $112 per year.
District 8 officials said the levy lid lift was necessary in order to pay for new equipment and ongoing costs such as fuel and safety training.
The district uses paid and part-time firefighters along with trained volunteers from four stations.
Initiative 747 had limited fire districts’ ability to collect the full $1.50 levy rate without authorization by voters. In 2007, however, the state Legislature approved a new law to allow voters in fire districts to approve a six-year levy lid lift to take the regular levy back to the statutory limit of $1.50. In the past, such lid lifts were only good for a year, and voters would have to be asked annual to renew the lift (at voters’ expense).
Click
here to...
Subscribe to the Spokane Valley News Herald
|
|
By
Mike Huffman
