South County Fire Proposition 1: $420M fire station bonds

Official plain English statement

South County Fire ("SCF'') is Snohomish County's largest provider of fire and emergency medical services. Rapid growth in southwest Snohomish County has resulted in significantly increased demand for public safety, emergency medical, fire, rescue, and disaster response services. Current fire stations are aging and need improvements to remain operational and meet increasing service demands. SCF adopted a capital facilities plan to address aging infrastructure, improve seismic safety, and ensure adequate emergency response capacity to serve our growing community. The plan includes replacing six aging fire stations; constructing four new fire stations to meet demand; seismic upgrades and improvements to four fire stations; and constructing or improving vehicle maintenance facilities, warehouses, classrooms, headquarters, and other facilities to support reliable emergency operations. Proposition 1 authorizes the issuance of $420,000,000 of general obligation bonds, to be repaid over no more than 25 years from issuance, to fund the capital facilities plan, and levy excess property taxes to repay the bonds. The exact amount of annual levies depends on the amount of principal paid each year and interest rates available when the bonds are sold, but levies are expected to average approximately $0.194 per $1,000 of assessed value for the term of the bonds.