Fire District 7 threatens to end contract with Mill Creek

Fire Station 76 in Mill Creek is operated by Fire District 7 through a contract.

Fire Station 76 in Mill Creek is operated by Fire District 7 through a contract.

MILL CREEK — Snohomish County Fire District 7 is threatening to end its longtime partnership with the city of Mill Creek.

Fire commissioner Randy Fay presented a termination letter at Tuesday night’s Mill Creek City Council meeting. The letter says service will end Jan. 1, 2018, if the two sides can’t agree on a new contract.

The dispute centers on how much the city should pay for fire protection and emergency medical services.

Mill Creek has contracted with the district since incorporating in 1983. In 2011, the contract was amended to increase staffing at the city’s only fire house, Station 76 near Town Center. The station has a minimum of five people working around-the-clock, including at least two paramedics.

That translates to two-dozen first responders. Their wages, benefits, equipment and overhead will cost an estimated $4.2 million in 2017, according to the district’s proposal. The city’s general fund budget for this year is $12.3 million.

A firefighter with 10 years’ experience costs the district about $136,038 in annual wages and benefits, according to the proposal, which also seeks yearly cost-of-living increases of 3 percent.

The contract was set to expire at the end of 2016. An automatic one-year renewal is in place during the negotiations.

Mill Creek’s leaders are committed to public safety, but they can’t be “captive to unchecked cost increases,” city spokeswoman Joni Kirk said in a prepared statement. By the city’s math, the fire contract could account for 40 percent of Mill Creek general fund spending by 2020.

Staff have worked hard to balance the budget and hope to reach a resolution with the district, Kirk said. They also have taken steps to ensure emergency coverage “through an alternate provider or in-house should the need arise,” she said.

According to Fay, negotiation talks started in June 2015 and were delayed by the city for much of 2016.

The district alleges that without a new contract, people in its boundaries would be subsidizing the cost of service in Mill Creek in 2018. Without that income, the district might have to consider layoffs and early retirements, he said.

“We’re a public agency,” Fay said. “This isn’t a situation where we’re arguing profit margin.”

The six-month notice allows time for an exit strategy.

“We want to continue the relationship. Both sides have expressed that,” he said. “But we just haven’t made enough progress at this point to be comfortable that it’s going to get done.”

The firefighters union, Local 2781, has taken a similar stance. The union represents more than 140 firefighters and paramedics through the rank of battalion chief.

They are deeply vested in the community, President Michael McConnell said. “We’re not just simple vendors … We want to continue to serve Mill Creek,” he said.

The city has a population of 19,900. District 7 is largely rural and based in Clearview. It recently merged with Monroe’s department. It serves some 110,000 people with an annual budget of about $29 million.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.

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