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Sammamish council hears King County Medic 1 levy plan; staff to return with supporting resolution
Summary
Officials and regional EMS leaders outlined a proposed six-year, 25¢-per-$1,000 property tax levy to fund Medic 1 services across King County. Council members asked questions about recruitment, mobile integrated health and local impacts and directed staff to return with a resolution for the May meeting.
Sammamish City Council members heard a detailed presentation April 1 on the proposed King County Medic 1 levy, a six-year funding package the county task force recommended to maintain advanced life support and regional emergency medical programs.
"Every time any person in King County who calls 911 for a medical emergency, you're accessing that system," Michelle Plourde, Emergency Medical Services Division Director at Public Health — Seattle & King County, said during the presentation. She told council staff and members that Medic 1 serves more than 2.3 million people and handled over 250,000 calls in 2024.
The levy package presented totals roughly $1.5 billion over six years for the entire region and proposes a 25¢ per $1,000 assessed value levy rate. For a homeowner with an $850,000 house, Plourde gave an example estimate of about $212 per year under the proposed rate. The task force package would continue funding for paramedic (ALS) staffing and include expanded funding for basic life support (BLS) and a $1 million first-year commitment to mobile integrated health (MIH).
The presentation emphasized why countywide coordination matters. "We are better together," Plourde said, citing a tiered response model and countywide data and training partnerships that she said underlie King County's higher-than-average cardiac arrest survival rates — "in 2023, our survival rate for cardiac arrest, was 51 percent." Chief Lane of Eastside Fire and Rescue, which serves Sammamish, joined Plourde and answered operational questions about local response times and revenue sources.
Council members asked about recruitment and retention of paramedics and EMTs, the growth of call volumes, and details about MIH programs. "We offered every fire department funds to manage their own program," Plourde said of MIH, noting local jurisdictions can tailor programs to chronic disease, mental-health response, or other priorities. She and Chief Lane described recruitment initiatives including the "Future Women in EMS and Fire" program and other workshops to diversify hiring.
Council staff said Sammamish is one of the cities counted toward the 75% threshold (nine of 11 cities over 50,000 population) required for countywide placement of the levy on the ballot. City staff asked for council direction to bring back a city resolution in support of the measure for the May meeting and recommended placing the council resolution on the May consent calendar after King County takes its formal action.
Council members generally expressed support for returning an authorizing resolution and asked staff to include clarifying language about homeowner cost examples and local allocations when the resolution and materials come back. No formal council vote on a resolution was taken April 1; staff will return with the proposed resolution and the draft materials for council action at the May meeting.
The presentation materials and Plourde's estimates also noted a risk analysis performed by King County, with a mid-range financial buffer of about $47 million identified to cover possible revenue and inflation variability during the levy period.
Next steps: staff will bring a draft resolution supporting placement of the Medic 1 levy on the November 2025 general election ballot to the first council meeting in May, after King County Council action.
