EFR partnership with Fall City still in limbo
January 22, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
A decision on partnering with the Fall City Fire Department, also known as Fire District 27, remains in limbo after Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Jan. 13 meeting. Depending on Fall City’s financial plan for the partnership, taxes for fire service in North Bend could go up or down.
Finance Chief Dave Gray reported that a comparison of budget estimates between EFR and Fall City showed that EFR had a good sense of the Fall City’s operating costs and revenues.
“I don’t think we were very far off on our cost estimate,” Gray said.
Commissioner Jack Barry, a representative of Sammamish, pressed Gray and Fire Chief Lee Soptich for more information concerning Fall City’s ability to raise revenues to pay for an enhanced fire service requirement.
“To what extent are they financially sound?” Barry asked.
EFR has a minimum standard of three firefighters at any time, while the Fall City Fire Department requires two. Some EFR board members are wary of potentially subsidizing increased manpower for Fall City.
Calculations in a September EFR report show that adding Fall City to EFR would bump the total cost 6.92 percent, from $20.3 million to $21.8 million, including operating costs, benefits, overhead and labor. But Gray also concluded that the cost per station would decrease 3.3 percent, about $74,000.
That decrease in cost assumes that EFR’s current partner cities and fire districts wouldn’t have to pay for Fall City’s increased personnel. This isn’t a given.
Fall City’s cost would go from about $1.5 million to $2.1 million, or a $600,000 increase.
At the very least, Fall City’s taxpayer base would have to consider an increase in their property taxes, Fall City Fire Chief Chris Connor said.
“(The partnership) would result in a cost that is more than we have revenue to support without some kind of increase,” Connor said.
The Fall City Fire Department hasn’t surveyed the potential support of a levy increase, but residents have approved such increases in the past, Connor said.
“Our taxpayers typically have been very supportive of what our needs are,” he said.
While EFR commissioners debate the financial viability of a partnership, the desire from Fall City’s perspective is a safer, better fire service for its residents, Connor said.
“It will be increasingly different for a small fire district to provide the kind of services that we need to provide,” he explained.
Even if Fall City asks for the maximum tax increase, it won’t have enough to match the annual cost of an EFR fire station, Connor said.
Based on 2009 finances, there would be gap slightly less than $100,000, he said.
To close that gap, Fall City could dip into reserve funds, Soptich said.
Another option would involve some charitable spirit from EFR partners, Soptich said. Assuming that a partnership with Fall City would lead to a decrease in cost per partner, staff might suggest donating some of the saved money toward adding Fall City.
“I would be willing to at least consider using those funds to help them gain a partnership,” Soptich said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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