‘Lift the Lid’ on EMS Levy Goes to Voters; Commissioner to Leave

Unlike the failed 2024 Maintenance & Operations levy that needed a 60% super majority to pass, the EMS levy lid lift only needs a simple majority.”

The Key Peninsula Fire District Board of Commissioners has approved a ballot measure for the Aug. 5 primary election authorizing the district to increase its emergency medical services property tax levy to maintain current service levels.

If approved by voters, the measure would restore the EMS levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for 2026, the amount voters previously approved, but is currently limited by state law. That’s about $250 for a home with an assessed value of $500,000. The measure would also allow the levy to increase by up to 6% annually for five additional years. After that, the final year’s amount would be used as the base for future EMS levy calculations.

District officials said the “lid lift” is necessary to keep up with rising costs for medical supplies and services, avoid longer response times, and reduce dependence on outside agencies for backup. The district estimates that without the lid lift, they could lose more than $870,000 in 2026. That’s due to the state’s 1% cap on how much property tax revenue can increase each year.

The proposal will appear as Proposition No. 1 on the August ballot. Unlike the failed 2024 Maintenance & Operations levy that needed a 60% super majority to pass, the EMS levy lid lift only needs a simple majority.

KPFD Commissioner Won’t Seek Election

Key Peninsula Fire District Commissioner Cambria Queen announced April 8 that she will not seek to keep her Position No. 1 seat in the upcoming election.

Queen was appointed to the board in May 2024 to fill the remainder of retiring Commissioner Frank Grubaugh’s term, which ends this year.

The board of commissioners selected Queen in a 3-1 vote over applicants that included Jeremy Larcom, Colleen Mullins, and retired KPFD Assistant Fire Chief Hal Wolverton. Wolverton confirmed he won’t run for the seat in the upcoming election.

Queen and her husband are planning to move to Texas to be closer to their son, who is heading to college there. She has lived on the Key Peninsula since 2019 and was active with the Citizen’s Advisory Panel, a volunteer group that advises the commissioners, before being appointed to the board.

“I don’t think it would be fair to the department, the board of commissioners, or the community for me to run only to resign a few months later,” said Queen, who acknowledged she would have run if she were staying on the Key Peninsula.

The filing period for candidates interested in the Position No. 1 seat is May 5 to 9, either by mail, through the Pierce County Elections website, or in person using a computer kiosk at Pierce County Election Center in Tacoma.

County Elections Award

Pierce County Elections received an award for excellence in election administration April 16 from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The county’s program, Securing Democracy’s Inbox to protect county emails, was one of 53 recognized nationally. The county also received an Honorable Mention for its Signature Solutions program, a door-to-door signature verification effort to increase ballot acceptance rates. 

“Elections in Pierce County rank as some of the safest in the nation,” Pierce County Auditor Linda Farmer said in a statement.

The EAC is an independent, bipartisan federal agency focused solely on election administration.

For more information go to www.eac.gov.