King County EMS presents recommended 6-year Medic One levy: $0.25 per $1,000, $1.5 billion regional package

Michelle Plourde, EMS division director for King County Emergency Medical Services, told the Renton City Council on Tuesday evening that a regional task force recommends placing a six-year Medic One levy on the November 2025 ballot at a 25¢ per $1,000 rate.

The package, Plourde said, would raise an estimated $1.5 billion across the region over six years and would be designed to fully fund the paramedic (ALS) layer, increase basic life support (BLS) funding, expand mobile integrated health (MIH) programs and preserve reserves. “The task force itself supported the subcommittee programmatic recommendations … supported a 25¢ levy rate, which, estimated cost to a homeowner is about $212 based on a $850,000 home,” Plourde said.

Why this matters: Medic One is the region’s primary funding mechanism for paramedic services and regional programs that support 911 response. Plourde said the system serves more than 2.3 million people in King County and that regional outcomes—such as the cardiac-arrest survival rate—are significantly higher than many other places.

Plourde outlined the task force’s programmatic and finance recommendations. Key elements include: continuing the current unit-allocation approach for paramedics and inflating allocations by CPI‑W plus 1 percent; increasing total BLS funding by $5 million in the first year (with $3 million added to the basic BLS allocation and $2 million to MIH); continuing regional services such as medical direction and data systems; and investing in EMT training and technical improvements to emergency medical dispatch. She described a recommended reserve posture informed by a risk analysis showing a revenue/expenditure sensitivity range described to the task force as roughly $31.8 million to $76.9 million under different worst-case scenarios.

Plourde said the finance subcommittee’s recommendation was to support a 25¢ levy rate that would generate about $1.47 billion in levy proceeds and a total revenue package around $1.55 billion when combined with carried reserves and other small county revenues. “Our analysts said, well, it’s good to be right in the middle because not every one of those risks are likely to happen,” Plourde said.

She summarized distributional highlights for the Renton Regional Fire Authority (the BLS agency serving Renton): in 2025 they were shown as receiving $2.7 million under the regional proposal, including $448,000 for their MIH program; an illustrative estimate for 2026 was presented as $3.3337 million total with about $648,000 to MIH (figures presented as estimates during the task force discussion).

Plourde emphasized system performance and equity. “We respond on the average every 2 minutes,” she said, adding that the countywide cardiac-arrest survival rate in 2023 was about 51 percent and that the Renton region’s measured survival in the slide she showed was 68 percent. She described the regional, tiered approach—widespread BLS first-responder coverage combined with strategically placed paramedic units—and said that approach both preserves paramedic capacity and provides equitable access to care across communities.

Council members and attendees thanked presenters and asked clarifying questions. Council members were reminded that final placement of a levy on the ballot would require a formal request (likely a council resolution) at a future date. Joshua Shughart, Chief, described the system as “an amazing system that we are very fortunate to live in” and said he looked forward to serving under the recommended levy.

Ending: Plourde closed by saying the task force supported a six‑year levy from 2026–2031 and the November 2025 ballot timing. She invited council members to follow up with questions and noted that staff would return with formal requests if the council chooses to place the measure on the ballot.