CHIMACUM — East Jefferson Fire Rescue’s board of commissioners is likely to approve the district’s 2026 budget today and ask voters next February for a levy lid lift.

“If there is no levy lid lift, we start to reach a real danger point in 2027,” finance director Roy Lirio said in a budget hearing last Wednesday.

While expenses consistently rise along with inflation, state law has limited what the fire department can collect in property taxes to a 1 percent increase per year. About 80 percent of the department’s projected $20 million-plus 2026 revenue will come from property taxes.

“The fundamental conundrum we’re in, for lack of a better phrase, is that, as the assessed value goes up a certain percentage, our tax revenue does not go up by that same percentage, unless they both happen to

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