The Bainbridge Island Fire District has two serious problems and has placed a proposition (No. 1) on the Nov. 3 ballot that, if approved by 60 percent, would address both situations. If the EMS levy ($0.40 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for 10 years) isn’t approved, then expect BIFD to come back with a modified plan in 2010 in an effort to win approval of the island’s voters. If not, well, without more funding from it’s only realistic source – property taxes – the department will have to start cutting its staff.

This is a fact, not a threat. The department is running a deficit that won’t disappear unless it gets more money or cuts service. Simple as that.

The problems – a service-level deficiency and a lack of funding for a growing service need – have been a fact for several years but not addressed until BIFD had the capability to launch a 20-month strategic planning process. The plan (www.bifd.org) is now in place and the EMS levy is a result of the department acting on it.

The bottom line is that BIFD has evolved over the years from a volunteer-based model to one that depends more and more on career fightfighters. Volunteers are still important, but the numbers have been dwindling for several reasons.

Through no fault of the department, coverage levels are not adequate on the island and don’t meet nationally recognized response-time levels because of low staffing levels. Clearly, one station and a minimum of four responders is not adequate for a population of more than 23,000 on 28 square miles, where there are nearly 2,700 emergency calls a year.

In fact, both the funding streams and emergency coverage levels on the island are woefully inadequate when compared to other Kitsap County departments. Because BIFD doesn’t have a EMS levy, the total EMS and general tax rate for the other four county departments is between $1.53 and $1.84, while BIFD’s is $0.73.

To add more EMS personnel and increase the number of staffed stations from one to three, the independent taxing district needs to increase its general levy (from which 91 percent of BIFD’s annual revenues are derived).

This is the department’s first EMS levy request (80 percent of all calls are for emergency service) and its last permanent lift lid was in 1993, though the passage of I-747 in 2001 (limiting increases to 1 percent) essentially wiped that out.

Confusing, perhaps, but on an island where the population tends to lean toward being elderly, it’s critical that we get this right. BIFD has produced a comprehensive plan (read it) that shows the way to correcting these problems, and we need to approve it.