I’d like to encourage support by April 26 when Enumclaw voters will be asked to vote on the 2016 levy lid increase.
King County Fire District 28 provides consistently superior public safety assistance, well worth the investment our community is asked tomake. Enumclaw, KCFD 28, needs well-trained firefighters and paramedics to assist us around the clock, 365 days a year. This levy lid helpsensure they will be there when we need them. People do not spend a lot of time thinking about first responders until they need one. When youdo, when you need help, seconds feel like minutes going by. A fire can double in size in just one minute and an extra 30 seconds to a cardiaccase can mean brain damage or death. Response times are critical. Unless it is affecting us at the time, we just don’t take it too seriously.
The investment in the fire department is ours, the taxpayers of this district. To keep our investment from dwindling away, we need to invest alittle more to keep that investment viable.
One thing that seems to get at some people is what is the union doing to help. If you compare the wages of our firefighters to those of likedepartments, they are under the scale of the other departments. They have not taken a wage increase since our financial woes came upon us. Itrust our fire chief and negotiators in the future to make whatever calls are necessary to keep our firefighters here and not let them goelsewhere.
Statistical data demonstrates the cost of fire insurance claims per $1,000 of insured property is reflective of a WSRB rating, thus clearlydemonstrating communities with better ratings experience lower fire insurance rates and reduced fire insurance claims per $1,000 of insuredproperty. These new ratings will mean a drastic savings to home and business owners for fire insurance premiums. This savings is muchlarger than the new taxes imposed with the levy lid lift. If you have a question regarding the potential impact to your individual propertyinsurance premiums effective April 2016, please contact your insurance carrier.
Please join me in support of our fire department by voting yes by April 26.
Keith Mathews
Enumclaw
