A levy that provides about half the annual budget for the Spokane Valley Fire Department was passing with 72 percent approval Tuesday night.
Fire Chief Bryan Collins said the results of the election are due to the efforts of the firefighters that serve Spokane Valley, Millwood, Liberty Lake and portions of unincorporated Spokane County.
“The firefighters really made an effort to make the public aware of the stuff that we’re doing for them,” said Collins. “It’s their good work out in the field that drives those results. It’s not anything I do.”
Waiting for election results was a different experience for Collins, who previously worked for city-funded fire departments. “It’s kind of new for me, having half your personnel being subject to losing their jobs every three years,” he said.
The levy approved by voters Tuesday will run for four years. The department plans to hire six new firefighters this year to help alleviate overtime costs and an additional six over the next four years, Collins said. There are also plans to build a new fire station in Liberty Lake in 2017 that will be located south of the freeway. The current Liberty Lake Station is located on Harvard Road north of the freeway.
“Apparently the public is pretty satisfied with what we’re doing, so we’re pretty happy with that,” Collins said.
