Snohomish County Fire District 1 wants to change how it charges property owners, in a way the district says could be fairer for most taxpayers.
There's a hitch, though. Even if voters give the thumbs up, there's no room for another charge on the tax bills sent by the Snohomish County's treasurer's office.
The fire district is concerned that having two separate tax statements might “cause taxpayer confusion,” according to an Oct. 6 resolution by the board. So the district “regrettably deferred” attempting a 2015 ballot measure asking voters to approve the new tax.
Now, fire district staff are working with the county to see if more room can be found on the tax form. That might mean using a smaller font. Fonts were being tested down to size 6 — half the size most commonly used for business communication. Still, they'd be left with the same number of lines for room — about a dozen.
“The only way to increase the lines is to get a legal-sized statement, which would be cumbersome and cost more to send out,” County Treasurer Kirke Sievers said. “If we agree with them, all of the other fire districts would want to do the same thing.”
The current font size used is 10, and “I get enough calls from the elderly who can't read the statement now,” he said.
District officials hope to figure out a solution in early 2016, fire board Chairman Jim Kenny said. “Nothing's been fixed yet,” he said. It took the fire commissioners a few months to figure out their next step after they hit roadblocks this spring. The proposed tax is called a “benefit charge” under state law and would replace part of the fire levy. Some fire departments have adopted the model in King and Pierce counties.