Fire District 13 gains funds from Tribe

Fire District 13 commissioners approved an agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community for $250,000 for the district’s 2018 operating budget at their April 26 meeting. The Tribe had approved the request in November. The funds, from the Swinomish Trust Improvement Use and Occupancy Taxes, are collected from rents on reservation land “pursuant to assessments in 2018 of taxes owing under the Trust Improvement Tax,” the agreement states.

The amount is double the 2017 agreement. Fire District 13 has been unable to assess property tax on reservation land since 2014 because of federal court and Washington State Department of Revenue rulings

This is 51 percent of the fire district’s tax income, if categorized as a tax, and 16 percent of total budgeted income.

The District also gained a $65,000 grant from the Tribe for a new pickup truck, Chief Roy Horn announced. An old truck will be surplused and sold, he said.

Lt. Gary Ladd reported the district will be reimbursed for $100,000 for ground emergency medical transportation. He estimated to net over $80,000 after expenses. The district’s 120 runs are about 10 percent above last year’s through March.

Assistant Chief Wood Weiss explained the fire district’s and his certification in the Blue Card Incident Command Program and Blue Card Incident Command Instructor Certification Program. The program “defines the best Standard Command Practices for common, local, everyday Strategic and Tactical emergency operations … [and] produces Incident Commanders that make better decisions that will potentially eliminate the lethal and/or costly mistakes that cause injury, death, and unnecessary fire losses in the local response area,” according to a Fire District 13 press release.

A CERT, Certified Emergency Response Team, meeting will be held May 11 with the goal of recruiting more volunteers.

The commissioners went into executive session to discuss planning to replace Horn, who will retire in January. They continued their planning in an April 28 executive session meeting.