Clark County certified Proposition 2 Friday, making the city of Vancouver’s move to fund fire and emergency services with increased property taxes official.
More than half of voters approved the tax levy during the February Special Election. It will generate about $15 million annually to fund additional uniform and administrative staffing, equipment and construction for the Vancouver Fire Department. Overall, the tax tool will gather about $72.7 million.
“We appreciate the community’s understanding of the need for additional resources to continue protecting our growing population,” Vancouver Fire Chief Brennan Blue said.
The chief added that the additional resources provide firefighters with a greater ability to respond to more calls and improve response times. Specifically, five full-time fire captains, 11 fire medics, 24 fire fighters and staff will be added to the shift schedule. The additional responders, new squad truck and ladder truck will help meet the city’s adopted standard of responding within 7 minutes and 59 seconds to priority calls.
Regular property taxes will increase in 2023 by 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Qualifying seniors, veterans and others can be exempted from the increase.
