More money for the Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority (RFA) by charging developers “fire impact fees?”
I am a 78-year-old lifetime Kent resident being taxed out of my home.
It is logical that it will be necessary for developers to pass those “impact fees” onto homebuyers/taxpayers.
Firemen came knocking on my door, assuring me that if the RFA were approved, costs would go down. Shortly after the RFA implementation, my $500-per-year fire protection property tax was increased another $500 to a total of $1,000 a year.
I have built and lived in three homes on 96th Avenue South for 58 years, and am not aware of even one fire in that time.
Now that I am retired and not earning, I am truly being taxed out of my home.
There are now dozens of new homes on 94th and 96th Avenue South since I started living here, and I am sure they also are paying $1,000 per year.
Driving past the Benaroya buildings on the East Valley Highway, I see literally dozens of non-fire or EMT vehicles, which must be driven by the fire bureaucracy that probably doesn’t take direct part in firefighting.
We taxpayers pay for them, but what do they contribute?
I have the utmost respect for the dangerous occupation of firefighters. Let’s get rid of the fat and pay them more.
– Monte Fugate
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