MEAD, Wash. — First responders with Spokane County Fire District 9 (SCFD9) are advocating for a maintenance and operations levy is passed in the upcoming Primary Election on August 6.
They have been sending out pamphlets to educate those in the community on what the levy proposes.
"It covers about 65 percent of our operating costs to provide services," said Nathan Jeffries, the assistant chief at SCFD9
Jeffries has worked at SCFD9 for more than 20 years and says that every three years the community has to vote in favor of a levy to make sure that the firefighters can do their jobs effectively.
"One expires in 2024, and this one is for 2025, 26, and 27," said Jeffries.
The levy would allow SCFD9 to replace the team's self-contained breathing tanks (SCBAs) and most of their standard fire gear, including jackets and hard hats.
"Those are reaching the end of their service life; we're finding a hard time to find parts for our SBAs because they're getting older," said Jeffries.
The levy proposes $72 a year, for a $400,000 property. The levy did not pass in April of this year by less than 1% of votes, and Jeffries believes it is because voters misunderstood the change.
"They thought the rate was going from 65 cents per thousand to a dollar forty-seven per thousand. That's not correct. It's going from a dollar twenty-nine per thousand, to a dollar forty-seven per thousand," said Jeffries.
With the Primary Election in just a few days, Jeffries says the vote in favor of the levy is crucial as he and his firefighters try to do their job even as the costs of operations increase.
"This is looking to be a pretty bad wildfire season for us. We've seen that in the last few days, we've seen call volume increase that continue to come each year. We're not getting slower, we're getting busier," said Jeffries. "These aren't nice to have. These are have to have."