General Levy Renewal
On August 1, 2023, residents of the Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One (GHFMO) District will be asked to vote on renewing the District’s General levy. This levy carries out the purposes for which the District was created (RCW 52.16.130). This is not a new request but simply a reset of the levy needed to fund our District’s day-to-day work and maintenance of our fleet and facilities: all critical aspects to providing adequate service to residents and businesses across the District.
Anyone who lives in Gig Harbor and Fox Island knows that our community has seen sustained population growth since the mid 2010’s. With growth comes additional homes, businesses, and a rising need for emergency response services. In fact, GHFMO has seen steady growth in call volume and experienced a 10% increase between 2021 and 2022.
In the same period where we have seen substantial population growth, we have also seen some of our capital equipment begin to reach the end of its serviceable life. Older equipment can be costly to maintain and down for repair. Critical tools like the breathing apparatus firefighters use, radios for communicating on-scene, and the fire engines themselves are reaching manufacturers’ lifetime service limits and must be replaced.
We take our mission “to provide exceptional service to our citizens and our members with dedication, compassion, and respect, while continually striving for improvement” to heart. Our firefighters, EMS providers, and administrative staff work tirelessly to honor our community’s investments in GHFMO. This levy renewal will ensure our District has adequate funding to maintain the staffing and equipment needed to respond to emergencies across the District.
photo credit: DJ Sonsteng
Frequently Asked Questions
Click here or the picture below to view an overview of the levy.
Renewal of this levy benefits all residents of the Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One District by ensuring adequate funding to maintain staffing and equipment needed to respond to emergencies across the District.
Levy funding helps GHFMO implement our strategic plans aimed at improving emergency response services for residents and businesses, including reducing response times through increased station staffing.
Research shows better outcomes on medical calls where our engines are staffed with three firefighters instead of two. Residents requested to increase staffing to these levels at recent public meetings.
No, last year’s ballot question was for the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) division of Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One’s joint operations.
Levies are our State’s mechanism for funding growth in districts like ours. State law requires us to separate EMS and General levies, which is why residents have seen two levies in two years.
The current levy is the final of three funding proposals planned in 2020 that will provide adequate funding for capital investments (Bond), EMS operations (2022 Levy), and General operations (2023 Levy) for at least the next five years.
GHFMO will ask for a renewal of its levy equal to .32 per $1,000 of assessed property value and a six-year levy lid-lift. This is not a new tax but a regular renewal of our existing levy.
