The Issaquah City Council on April 6 voted unanimously to throw its support behind a county property tax measure to fund a new radio system for emergency services.

Proposition No. 1 on the April 28 special election ballot, if approved, would authorize an additional property tax of $0.07 per $1,000 of assessed value to fund the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network, estimated by King County officials to cost $246 million.

The “yes” statement for the measure — authored by King County Sheriff John Urquhart, Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Redmond Mayor John Marchione — estimated the median county homeowner would see a little more than $2 per month increase on property taxes.

Real estate database company Zillow estimates the median home value in Issaquah to be $533,600, an amount that would incur an annual property tax increase of $37.35.

King County’s current emergency radio network was completed in 1997 and has operated under the ownership of the county government, the city of Seattle, the Eastside Public Safety Communications Agency and Valley Communications Center. It serves most public agencies as well as private emergency services such as Medic One.

“It is not just in the times of dire emergency that this radio system is used,” Emergency Radio System Project Director David Mendel said. “It is used every single by every single call by police or fire or (emergency medical services). Your school district has radios on this radio system. General government has radios on this radio system. It’s a crucial part of our everyday fabric of getting business done and protecting citizens.”

But the current system, known as KCERCS, has required increasing repairs over time, Mendel said. And the system will face an imminent end when its vendor stops supplying replacement parts and repairs at the close of 2018, he said.

Mendel added that KCERCS fails to cover all areas in public safety agencies’ jurisdictions and that the system’s capacity is taxed during major events.

The “against” committee on Proposition 1, comprised of fire commissioners Mark Thompson and James A. Fossos, have stated that they support a new radio system but are concerned with the property tax funding model. Their statement noted that revenues could potentially drop with property values, leaving fire agencies with the bill and forced to cut costs in other areas, such as personnel.

Issaquah Councilmember Stacy Goodman said that while she would ultimately support the city’s endorsement of Proposition 1, she had reservations about a lack of time to fully review the details of the proposition. She also noted a September 9, 2014 letter from King County Auditor Kymber Waltmunson that described network replacement as “an expensive and high-risk endeavor that could benefit from clearer and more comprehensive analysis and a greater focus on project management practices.”

“It’s hard for me to tell voters that I support something or send the message they support something when I don’t feel like I’ve had time to fully dive in to this,” she said.

Ballots for the April 28 election were mailed out Wednesday. The deadline to register to vote is April 20.