Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety, serving the citizens of Greater Maple Valley, is placing a maintenance and operations levy proposition on the April 23, 2013 ballot. This proposition will authorize the fire district to collect $1.5 million annually, at an approximate rate of $0.38 per $1000 of assessed valuation, for a three year period covering 2014 through 2016. This proposition is presented to allow voters the opportunity to maintain current fire department services and personnel. In addition, it will allow the district to re-staff an aid car for emergency responses, which has been currently reduced to part-time.
The fire district has lost over $1.6 million in revenues since 2010 and projects a further reduction of approximately 1 million in 2014 due to the nationwide recession and loss of property values. Declining tax revenues and increasing costs have necessitated cutbacks in service levels and personnel, including one aid car reduced to part-time status. The reduction of revenue has also caused a total of nine department vacancies, including five firefighters eliminated through layoffs and/or attrition.
Approval of this proposition would allow the department to maintain the current level of service, maintain all current firefighter positions, allow the district to move the aid car from part-time to fulltime status, and prevent cutbacks in services and the imminent layoff of firefighters that would otherwise be necessary.
For additional questions regarding this measure contact: Brad Doerflinger - Fire Chief 425-432-0200 • bradd@maplevalleyfire.org
