A public comment session on the 15 cent South Whidbey Fire/EMS levy is scheduled for Thursday, March 15.

The fire commissioners and the fire chief will be available to answer questions. Written comments may be emailed to Fire Chief Rusty Palmer at chief@icfd3.org prior to the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Fire commissioners first heard the proposed property tax hike at their  meeting in February. Palmer said a 15-cent increase would help the fire district keep its maintenance and operations budget at its current level, and would then avoid any service cuts. The levy increase would put the levy at .76 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Fire district meetings are held at the Freeland station, located at 5535 Cameron Road.