Voters approved an emergency medical services replacement levy for Clark County Fire District 6, and a merger between Fire District 2 and Clark County Fire & Rescue, but they appear to have rejected a levy lift for Fire District 3.
Preliminary election results Tuesday night show District 6’s levy passing 7,348 to 2,202; the District 2 merger passing 208 to 74; and District 3’s levy lift failing 1,639 to 1,251.
District 6 voters — in the Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Felida, Sherwood, Lake Shore and Fairgrounds areas — voted to maintain their emergency medical services levy, which pays for basic and advanced life support calls and paramedics.
The going rate has been 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. District 6 voters have approved the levy each time it’s come up since 1980, according to district staff.
District 2, a one-station operation that serves about 2,100 people in a small portion of Clark County between Woodland and La Center, will merge with Clark County Fire & Rescue, which covers Ridgefield, La Center, Woodland and nearby rural areas.
With the merger finalized, District 2 residents’ rates will increase to about $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed value.
District 3 voters declined to maintain their current levy rate, $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed property value, through 2017, in a lid lift vote. The district serves about 40,000 people in the areas of Hockinson, Heisson, Venersborg, parts of Brush Prairie and the city of Battle Ground.
Property values in the district are expected to rise. The district said keeping the rate for 2017 would have allowed the district to levy taxes beyond the 1 percent increase cap set by state law.
State law allows taxing districts to raise their tax revenues by only 1 percent without a vote. Otherwise, the rate would decline, hence the “lid lift” vote.
District officials said the money was slated to pay for two more firefighter-paramedics and rising expenses, such as equipment repair and replacement, facilities maintenance and payroll costs.
