Washougal expected to send six-year EMS levy to voters in November

The Washougal City Council is expected to vote Monday, July 24, to place an emergency medical services (EMS) levy on the ballot this November.

If approved by voters, the EMS levy would cost property owners 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value annually from 2024 to 2029. The owner of a $500,000 home would pay $250 per year ($21 per month) for each of the next six years, according to the City resolution the Council will consider during its July 24 meeting.

Washougal residents approved the City’s most recent six-year EMS levy request, also set at 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value (APV), in 2017.

“The Washougal EMS levy has been approved at 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value since the election in 2004, and in subsequent renewals,” Washougal City Manager David Scott said. “The EMS levy is an important dedicated funding source for the EMS program and is necessary to maintain current service levels. This is the maximum EMS levy rate allowed in statute. The Council did not consider a different levy renewal rate to avoid the need to reduce EMS or other generally funded services.”

The levy funds will be “used only for the provision of emergency medical care or emergency medical resources, including related personnel costs, training for such personnel, and related equipment, supplies, vehicles and structures needed for the provisions of emergency medical care or emergency medical services,” according to City law.

City leaders say the EMS levy is needed to “provide a safe work environment for on-duty personnel, and to provide needed emergency medical response personnel on-scene for any medical emergency the city of Washougal may have,” accordig to the draft resolution.

“All firefighters in the Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) are required to have an EMS certification either at the emergency medical training or paramedic level, as all fire engines respond to EMS calls along with the ambulance,” Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) EMS Chief Shaun Ford said. “That part of the EMS system would be unaffected. The primary reason for the EMS levy in each city and East County Fire and Rescue (ECFR) is for the provision of the ambulance service. If the Washougal levy were to fail, and the city could not find another source of similar funds, the ambulance service would be greatly impacted.”

Washougal usually experiences a higher volume of emergency medical calls than Camas, Scott said. So far in 2023, the CWFD has received 45% of its calls from Washougal and 42% from Camas, with the remaining 13% being handled by ECFR, according to Ford.

“Also, the ambulance in Washougal covers about 75 percent of the calls that originate within the city of Washougal, and the other 25% are covered by an ambulance out of a station located in Camas,” Ford said. “We cannot determine exactly why more EMS events occur in Washougal versus Camas. We break down reasons for EMS requests by general reasons, and some types of calls occur more frequently in Camas and others more so in Washougal, and there is no clear causality.”

Scott added that Washougal and Camas leaders “are all aware of this context” as they “work together in partnership to provide the EMS program.”

The interlocal agreement (ILA) that created the joint Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) in 2013 is set to expire at the end of this year. In anticipation, city and fire officials in Camas and Washougal have been trying finalize a new ILA that would, ideally, maintain a joint fire department and provide the same level of fire and emergency medical services Camas-Washougal residents are used to without straining Washougal’s more limited revenue resources.

“The ILA does not really affect the Washougal EMS levy renewal,” Scott said. “There has been an EMS levy in Washougal since 1978. Whatever service delivery method is deployed for EMS, the levy is an important, dedicated funding source in support of the EMS program. The Washougal EMS levy was in place before the current ILA and has continued as we have operated under the current ILA. Upon renewal, the EMS levy will continue to support the EMS program, whether the services are delivered through an extended ILA or otherwise.”