The Federal Way City Council passed a resolution on May 6 to approve public consideration of the renewal of a levy to fund emergency services.

The Medic One/EMS system is primarily funded by a countywide, voter-approved EMS levy. The current six-year levy expires on Dec. 31, 2025, according to city documents.

Before the levy can be placed on the ballot for voters to consider, at least eight of the 11 largest cities in the county have to approve it.

After some discussion, the city council unanimously supported placing the levy on the ballot.

The levy is expected to be on the ballot for King County voters in November 2025.

The Medic One/EMS serves the over 2.3 million people throughout King County and provides lifesaving services, on average, every two minutes, according to documents presented at the council meeting by Michele Plorde, EMS Division Director.

While different regions within the county have their own emergency services, like South King Fire for Federal Way, they all work together to ensure the highest level of care.

The levy will be distributed to fund services including Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedic services, Basic Life Support (BLS) firefighter and EMT services, core regional services that support everything from dispatch to training, pilot projects for strategic initiatives, and reserves to prepare for unanticipated expenses.

The levy rate will start at 25 cents per $1,000 assessed value and is projected to vary from that 25 cents to a low of approximately 22.4 cents over the six years due to limitations of state law.

Using 2024 numbers provided by city documents, for the median homeowner in Federal Way of a property worth $509,000, this will mean an increase in cost of approximately $15 the first year, due to a cost change from a median $112 to $127.

This levy directly impacts funding to South King Fire, which received $2.95 million of funding from the levy in 2025. In addition, 16 percent of that funding for the year is allocated to South King Fire for their Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) unit.

Expanding MIH units across the county was one of the strategic initiatives for the 2020–2025 levy. Strategic initiatives account for a small portion of the county’s funds, but programs like this one can improve care and efficiency, leading to better results and cost savings later.

The financial plan for Medic One/EMS that will be funded by the levy was developed after King County hosted a regional eight-month process “rooted in partnerships and consensus building,” according to the presentation to council.

After that regional process, recommendations were developed for the levy. Money is distributed by looking at the overall needs of the system to function and by fine-tuning those resources based on local need.

“We look at several different things. We look at response times, we look at call volumes,” Plorde said, adding that “we have what we would call markers for what’s within range and if you go outside the range…we start wondering if there’s stresses.”