CHS recently told you about some small but life-saving changes in the way Seattle Fire responds to medical emergencies. This fall, King County residents will have the opportunity to vote to continue funding one of the underpinnings of 911 response in the city and through the county — Medic One. While it seems unlikely the levy could possibly fail at the ballot box, the announcement below from the King County Council is worth a read for a better understanding of how this vital service was created and how it works today.
Voters to decide in November on six-year levy
for Medic One servicesVoters will have the opportunity to reauthorize funding for the regional system of paramedic and ambulance services with today’s unanimous adoption by the Metropolitan King County Council to place a six-year Medic One and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy on the November general election ballot.
“The Emergency Medical Services system in King County is nationally known for its success at saving lives,” said Reagan Dunn. “I look forward to the voters of King County determining the worthiness of this measure and I am pleased to sponsor this legislation.”
“Today’s vote marks the culmination of a regional process involving EMS providers, labor leaders, and elected officials,” said Larry Gossett, Chair of the King County Council. “Now it is up to the voters to have the final say in the process.”
“Medic One saves lives, and now voters can decide whether to reinvest in this service,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “My thanks to the County Council and all the cities involved for putting this important question on the ballot.”
Founded in 1970 as a Seattle Fire Department program, Medic One was an innovator in bringing physician-level assistance to cardiac victims at the scene of a heart attack. Medic One was expanded in 1979 into a countywide levy-funded program that serves all of King County.
“This levy provides the voters with a direct voice regarding reauthorization of funding for Medic One and Emergency Services,” said Council Vice Chair Julia Patterson. “This proposal will determine the level of emergency response services for residents throughout the county.”
“I welcome having the voters of King County review and consider reaffirming Medic One’s nationally recognized services for the next six years,” said Council Vice Chair Jane Hague. “The stakeholder inspired strategic plan for the next six years builds on Medic One’s historical success and legacy.”“For four decades, King County’s EMS system has been in place for County residents. Now the voters will have the opportunity to decide if they want it to continue for years to come,” said Councilmember Joe McDermott, Chair of the Budget & Fiscal Management Committee.
The Medic One/EMS system uses a tiered response model to help provide patients with medical care by the most appropriate care provider. The system relies heavily upon coordinated partnerships with fire departments, paramedic agencies, dispatch centers and hospitals to deliver services.
“Voters in King County will decide this November whether to renew support of Medic One,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Since 1979, MedicOne has provided life support services to people throughout King County; the levy would provide funding for six more years.”
“I’m proud of the quality of King County’s Medic One/Emergency Medical Services Program. We deliver quality care to our citizens in medical crisis. The EMS program continues to work on improvements to offer cost efficiencies to taxpayers,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert. “This levy will address a more efficient management of the calls received through the expanded Community Medical Technician (CMT) pilot program. We have maintained the same cost per ambulance as in the last levy.”“This proposal is a model of regional cooperation and partnerships throughout King County,” said Councilmember Rod Dembowski. “I thank the EMS Advisory Task Force for its work in proposing this renewed levy program.”
If adopted, the measure would assess a levy of up to $0.335 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That is the rate recommended in the MedicOne/EMS 2014-2019 Strategic Plan developed by a 19-member EMS Advisory Task Force and over 100 stakeholders representing all parts of the regional system – paramedic providers, fire agencies, hospitals, emergency doctors, communications centers, and labor.
Their proposal would cost the owner of a $320,000 home approximately $107 a year.
As required by state law, the nine cities in the county with populations of more than 50,000 must support placement of the countywide measure on the ballot. Those cities are Auburn, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kent, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, Shoreline and Seattle, whose City Council today approved placing the measure on the ballot.
You know what? The problem here is the way they tax the city. Necessary items like this were removed from budgets because they KNEW people would vote yes on them. (Your title is spot on.) These types of expenses should be on the overall budget and not side items. They do this so they can get funding for the crap they know we will vote down if it were a separate voting issue.
Absolutely right. I vote No on this levy every time. Only a rejection will force this essential service to be paid for in a rational manner. This should be included in the local portion of property tax, not a special levy.
Medic One has been funded by a separate levy from the beginning. And there was nothing like it before (in the whole country or maybe world).
Matthew is quite right on this one. In fact, this year we will have 3 rounds of levy authorizations to vote on. Had one in February for schools, another in August primary and then a third one during the general. Why? Because officials know people aren’t as likely to vote for all those tax increases if they’re on the same ballot. Thus you have a special one in February for the sole purpose of avoiding voter fatigue (and costing a few extra hundred thousand dollars).
The worst one is the parks levy. In a time when we can’t afford what we have, you will be asked to support a huge new parks expansion levy later this year by King County. They didn’t even give you an option for just maintenance or just acquisition like you normally get to vote on. They lumped it together so you’re stuck saying no to all parks funding, or giving them a huge new budget with a massive increase of money. This could actually suppress other stuff, like Fire, roads and hospital districts so that Parks get full funding, while your rural Fire District can’t collect the full amount they would receive otherwise and our roads are falling apart.
Seattle/King County thinks Parks are more important than fire departments, roads and hospitals. Let that sink in for a minute.
Medic one does bill when their service is requested right?
And I think the fire dept does too….
What is that money used for?
You make the 107.00 more a year sound like just a little more.
We are at the point their is no more.
This funding need to have some more thought and ideas.
The home owners wallets are empty.
This is a fee service . Not for the home owners of the county
To provide.
Medic One does not bill when their service is requested. Neither does the Seattle Fire Department for any emergency services.
Kind of astounded by all the negative comments. I work in healthcare. Medic One is an exceptionally high quality EMS program with national renown.
Of course the way we do taxes and pay for essential services in this state is crazy and regressive. But if this is voted down, it won’t magically be added to the county budget. Politicians won’t suddenly raise baseline property taxes or institute a progressive income tax to pay for essential services. They’ll just hack away at Medic One and other programs because Grover Norquist.
Voting yes on taxes for valuable public services is the best way we have to counter the popular wisdom that everyone hates all taxes all the time.
Actually, I beg to differ. Voting yes on valuable public services (which should already be accounted for in a comprehensive overall budget) only encourages this half-assed method that ends up with us getting 3 levies a year. I agree with those who say the only way to get them to address this comprehensively is to VOTE NO on ALL special levies. Otherwise it only encourages them to keep doing this– as they are doing. And BTW the “popular wisdom” in Seattle is exactly the opposite– that we’ve never met a tax we didn’t like. We need to stop enabling this method of budget, and once and for all force a fair State income tax. This is bullshit.
Wow, y’all just don’t GET it. These services all MUST be paid for! You’ve already voted to prohibit large tax increases. You can’t have it both ways!
These items are all special levie because that circumvents state law prohibiting large tax increases without a super majority in Olympia.
It fascinates me just how many people are obilvious to the fact you can’t have services without paying for them.
No, YOU. Don’t set it. Nobody has said they don’t want to pay for it. What I, and many people object to, is the onesie-twozie method of separate levies. The super-majority thing doesn’t work. It needs to be blown away and replaced with a fair and comprehensive state income tax. You’re quite right, you can’t have it both ways, and if you want things you have to pay for them. We need to have elected officials who have the balls to tackle this problem comprehensively, and make the difficult choices. This just is not the way to do it, and we need top stop enabling it. The only way to do that is to fail all these separate piece part levies and force the issue.
the entire taxation structure in this state needs an overhaul, period.
This has been highly informative for me, Caphillseattle.com always is, but I never had it layed out so clearly for me (the onsie twosies). I will now, out of principle be voting no on these.
^All the same commenter (except Tom, I suppose, though one has to wonder…)
No, not really the same commenter, but good try. I have always voted no on wonky out of cycle tax cries for help, this article and comments really hit home that I was in line with others. That is all.
I like it when an ambulance service keeps my friends and neighbors alive, even if some of them are irrational weirdos. So I guess I would rather err on the side of some government inefficiency rather than potentially de-funding Medic One.
Here’s a fun idea. Maybe we can pick some other, non-life-threatening ballot thing where we can “force the issue” about taxes.