EDMONDS — The clock is ticking for Edmonds to figure out how it will provide fire and emergency medical services to residents before its contract with South County Fire ends next year.
No matter what the city does next, service costs in Edmonds will likely rise.
On Tuesday, the South County Fire Commission’s Vice Chair Mark Lawrence told City Council members “the only way to reduce costs is to cut services.”
“The only way to really address costs is to go to the Capitol and vote for different types of legislators, and maybe they can do something,” Lawrence said.
In a letter sent in December 2023, South County Fire informed Edmonds officials the agency intended to end its contract with the city by Dec. 31, 2025.
In the letter, incoming Chief Robert Eastman wrote the current contract isn’t financially sustainable to keep up with demand, prompting the fire authority to opt out of the contract early. The city’s 20-year contract with South County Fire started in 2010.
“While this agreement served Edmonds well at that time, it falls short in preparing for the community’s evolving needs,” Eastman wrote.
Edmonds is currently the only city under a separate fire service contract with South County Fire — the largest fire district in the county by population, covering more than 300,000 people. Edmonds property owners don’t directly pay South County but rather pay taxes to the city, which then pays the regional fire authority. Lynnwood, Brier, Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace have been annexed into the fire authority and pay South County directly.
The city has four main options for the future of fire service:
• Get annexed into South County Fire;
• Relaunch the city’s fire department that disbanded in 2009;
• Enter into a contract with the Shoreline Fire Department;
• Or separate the city’s fire and EMS services and contract for EMS only.
This year, Edmonds is paying $12.5 million for fire service. South County estimates annual costs would be around $17.8 million if Edmonds gets annexed into the regional fire authority.
“Edmonds is paying less for service under the current contract than the rest of the RFA,” Eastman wrote.
South County is basically subsidizing the city’s payments to keep pace with demand, South County Fire Commission Chair Jim Kenny said at a City Council meeting Tuesday.
“That essentially has to come to an end,” Kenny said. “It wouldn’t be fair to our other constituents to subsidize the city in that fashion.”
Today, the same number of firefighters serve Edmonds as when the contract began in 2010, with “no provisions to proactively plan and prepare for the future,” Eastman wrote.
Since then, the city’s population and call volume have increased, making service more costly. Edmonds’ population was just over 39,000 in 2010, but sits around 42,000 today.
“We must ensure that each individual who lives, works, or visits Edmonds is protected with the highest quality emergency medical care, fire suppression and hazard response possible,” Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen said in a written statement last week. “The council and I are working to identify and explore every possible option to bring the community for their consideration. Ultimately this is about saving lives and property 24/7/365.”
The city’s fire situation comes amid a larger financial crisis for the city. Edmonds needed $6.25 million in one-time COVID relief funds to pay its South County Fire contract this year. Overall, the city used $12.5 million in one-time funds to cover recurring expenses. The city is considering ways to bridge the deficit, including a potential property tax increase.
City Council members commended South County for the service it provides Edmonds, but expressed concern over how the city would continue to provide this service, given its budget crisis.
“You can’t put a price tag on it, yet we only still have so much money,” City Council member Vivian Olson said Tuesday.
Last year, the council voted to hire Fitch & Associates, an EMS and fire safety consultant company, to study the city’s options moving forward.
William Sturgeon, senior associate at Fitch, presented the study’s findings at a City Council meeting this month.
Contracting EMS services separately would not be financially feasible, Sturgeon said. No private ambulance services currently operate in Snohomish County, and Shoreline Fire, the closest department to Edmonds, prohibits contracting for EMS.
Although it would increase property taxes, annexing into South County fire would decrease the city’s general fund expenses by about $6.6 million, Sturgeon said.
For the average household, annexation would cost an estimated total of $77 monthly. This would also mean residents would pay taxes directly to South County Fire, rather than to the city.
Edmonds would also no longer need to pay around $400,000 annually for 911 services.
Annexing into South County Fire would require voter approval before 2025.
At a town hall meeting last week, City Council member Jenna Nand said annexation would be the best option.
Contracting with another agency, such as Shoreline, would initially cost the city $6.7 million to procure the necessary equipment. Annually, operation costs would total nearly $25 million, the study determined.
If Edmonds decided to go this route, it would need to update its fire stations to meet Shoreline’s requirements, which would cost an estimated $20 million, Sturgeon said. The city would also need to hire 40 to 50 new employees.
Shoreline Fire is funded by King County property taxes, meaning an increase for Edmonds taxpayers to cover expenses for both departments. The city would also need an interlocal agreement and approval from the King County Council.
“They’re very unlikely to want to subsidize our fire services,” Nand said at the town hall.
This option would cost the average household $93 monthly in property taxes.
Bringing back the Edmonds Fire Department would be similarly costly. According to Sturgeon, operational costs would be about $19 million annually and renovation of the stations would cost about $20 million.
Ashley Nash: 425-339-3037; ashley.nash@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @ash_nash00.
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