Assistant chief for Snohomish County Fire District 7, Eric Andrews said officials will be back before voters in November following the narrow defeat of a district EMS levy on the Aug. 17 primary ballot.

Of the District 7 voters who took part in the primary, better than a majority actually approved the issue. But under Washington state law, EMS levies need to earn 60 percent or better of all ballots cast.

According to the latest numbers coming from Snohomish County, the issue earned 6,425 votes in favor, or 58.8 percent of the vote total. “No” votes numbered 4,500, or 41.1 percent.

Besides needing 60 percent of the vote, the levy also had to attract a minimum of 5,560 voters, which it did easily. The vote total was actually 10,916. No numbers were available specifically for Fire District 7, but overall, the voter turnout for Snohomish County was 38.5 percent.

“I think we just need to do a better job of… letting the public know what the levy really funds,” Andrews said.

According to Andrews, what the levy really funds is EMS operations for all of District 7. That’s largely unincorporated areas north and east of the northern end of Bothell, including neighborhoods inside Bothell’s potential annexation area. District 7 includes areas between Bothell and Mill Creek, as well as Mill Creek itself.

The failed levy was the renewal of a six-year issue that expires at the end of 2010. Andrews was insistent that the levy is the only major source of revenue for District 7 EMS operations.

“There is no alternative funding,” he said.

Prior to the Aug. 17 vote, Andrews said EMS calls make up about 77 percent of the emergency calls handled by the district. The current levy collects about $1.7 million toward responding to those EMS calls.

The district was asking for some major changes to the expiring levy. Probably most notably, Andrews said that for the first time, District 7 asked voters for the maximum amount of funding available to it, 50 cents per every $1,000 of property valuation, double what the expiring levy takes in.

Again prior to the Aug. 17 vote, Andrews said District 7 is one of the few fire services in the state that doesn’t already collect the maximum amount allowed. He added a number of factors prompted district officials to ask for an increase in funding, those factors including drops in local property values, which led to drops in district tax collections. Andrews said revenues dipped $1.3 million last year, with another plunge of over $1 million predicted for 2010.

The district also asked voters to eliminate the levy’s expiration date. In the past, EMS levies needed to be renewed every six years. State law now allows for districts to make levies permanent with voter approval. Andrews said a permanent levy means far less of a chance of losing service because of a drop in revenue. He added the district also would save the cost of running an election every six years.

If the state legislator allowed fire districts to attempt make EMS levies permanent, they still are imposing the 60-percent passage margin for those levies. Andrews said most people don’t realize that strictly following the law, EMS operations are optional, not required as is fire service. He added fire services have been in place since the early 1800s, while EMS operations only came into formal being in the 1970s. That was when the state put the 60-percent rule in place. Andrews said legislation to eliminate the 60-percent requirement has been introduced in Olympia a couple of times, but never won the approval of the legislature.

Andrews admitted it’s a bit frustrating from the district’s point of view to have won over a better than 50-percent majority of the voters and still not have gained passage of the levy.

“The majority of people want EMS services,” he said, but contended some voters apparently believe District 7’s medical service would continue at the same level without passage of some sort of levy. Andrews said that’s just not the case.

“I’m afraid we didn’t do a good enough job of telling people what we need this for,” he added.

Andrews didn’t say if district officials might consider running a smaller levy, but based on earlier comments that might be unlikely. According to Andrews, for a home valued at $400,000, had the issue passed, the average EMS tax bill for a District 7 property owner would be $200 a year, an increase of $100 a year.

“But even with 50 cents, we are not going to make up all we have lost,” Andrews said during the primary campaign.