When Fred and Betty Benjamin voted for Proposition 1, a tax levy to raise money for the Cle Elum Volunteer Fire Department, they thought they were voting for a much-needed financial boost for the department — a boost they believed would augment current city funding.
Now the Benjamins wonder if they and other voters weren’t “duped” by the city of Cle Elum.
At issue is a proposed Cle Elum city budget that would give the fire department 100 percent of the funds raised by the levy ( a figure estimated at around $122,000 for this coming year) while reducing the city’s general fund support for the department from $78,963 this year to just over $32,000 in 2016. The difference between the city’s funding for the department this year and the proposed funding for 2016 is about $47,000, money that could be used to help fund a badly needed city planner position. The fire department would have a 2016 budget of $154,172. The levy will cost property owners $0.50 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation annually over a five-year period. Shouldn’t the levy rate have been lower if the fire department doesn’t need as much money as voters were asked to approve, the Benjamins wonder. Or was asking for that amount viewed as an opportunity for the city to reduce its funding for the fire department and divert money to other needs?