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Fire District 12 Commissioners Dennis O’Hern and Norm Jenkins wrote a letter to district residents into the minutes of their Dec. 18 meeting, following up their November approval of a 2018 budget of $155,519 in expenses. They raised the property tax levy funding the district to $85,000, a 78 percent increase over 2017’s $47,768. The commissioners again passed a deficit budget, which they balanced by tapping the district’s $308,691 in reserves. O’Hern shared that he had spoken with the Skagit County’s assessor’s staff and that the budget was approved by the county commissioners.

O’Hern said that the levy had not been raised in many years and the increase was “well within the ceiling, well under what we could have levied.” The assessor’s office’s initial estimate is the increase is $0.13 per $1,000 of assessed housing value, to $0.30 per $1,000. Jenkins agreed that “percentage-wise, it is a big increase. It depends on how you are looking at it.”

Both commissioners stressed that the district’s levy rate is the lowest in the county by far. O’Hern said he would be “happy to tell anyone if asked. We are running a deficit and have for several years.”

Prompted by resident Garth Frazer, the commissioners developed a statement for the district’s citizens to explain the tax increase. They summarized the several years operating deficit and the drawdown in reserves from almost $500,000 and stated some of improvements to “our equipment and to our fire station” and noted the increase in training “to stay consistent with state mandated requirements.” The letter ends with their “goal to provide a high level of service at a reasonable cost for our district.”

O’Hern said there had been 99 calls to date in 2017, up from 2016’s 77. The increase is 29 percent.

O’Hern started the evening saying it was his “last meeting as a commissioner and I am pleased and honored to have served this community for the last 12 years.” His term ends Dec. 31. He did not run for re-election. Doug Peterson was elected to fill the seat.

Jenkins was elected chair for 2018. The Skagit County commissioner will be appointing a third fire district commissioner in January. O’Hern and Jenkins were unable to agree on filling the seat vacated by Greg John in June.