MARYSVILLE — Talks of forming a regional fire authority in Marysville have cooled off.
The city and the fire district met for months to talk about creating a fire authority, a new government body that would levy taxes and provide fire protection and emergency medical services in the city and surrounding area.
Fire authorities have become a fashionable idea in Snohomish County that often flounders on the details. Such a move requires the consolidation of money and power. The talks in Marysville got hung up on the issue of who would be in charge. The current fire board is run 50-50 by the city and the fire district. The city wanted more representation on the fire authority board.
“It was not a contentious discussion. It just wasn’t moving forward,” city administrator Gloria Hirashima said. “We felt we needed to explore and analyze things further.”
Since 1991, the city and the Marysville Fire District have worked together under a contract. On July 30, the city sent the fire district notice that it intends to terminate the contract, which requires three years’ notice.
Now the city is considering starting its own fire department from scratch.
It still could form a regional fire authority or seek a new contract with the fire district. The current contract is not financially sound, Hirashima wrote in the July letter.
“It is clear from our recent joint discussions that both parties recognize a need for change,” she wrote.
The fire commissioners are hopeful that the fire authority model will prevail, though a new contract also is possible, said Gary Bontrager, who serves on the board.
“We’re looking at all of our options,” Bontrager said. “At this point in time, we feel we can still work together, Marysville Fire with the city.”
For now, no more fire authority planning meetings are scheduled in Marysville, and voters won’t see a measure on the ballot anytime soon, Hirashima said. Earlier, there had been talk of a ballot measure as early as February.
State law requires voter approval to start a fire authority, which by definition combines multiple existing agencies.
In 2014, the city paid a consultant $41,980 to study the issue. The consultant recommended a fire authority, saying it would provide a more modern and permanent way of collecting taxes and providing service. That idea also is supported by the firefighters union.
Snohomish County has only one fire authority so far, based in Stanwood. The idea also has come up in Arlington. Negotiations for one in south county fell through a couple of years ago.
The city of Lynnwood remains in talks with Fire District 1, based in south Everett, including the potential for forming a fire authority. Public meetings on the topic are likely to happen next month, Fire Chief Scott Cockrum said. They’re also working on a website to provide information to the public.
“We are continuing to explore our options,” he said.
It’s all part of ongoing efforts to reduce duplication — and administrative costs — in the fire service. Fire District 3 in Monroe and District 7 in Clearview are moving toward their own merger, too.
The Marysville Fire District serves 55 square miles including the city, a swath of the Tulalip Indian Reservation, Lakewood and parts of Smokey Point. The 2014 budget was about $16.2 million.
The district’s board has three seats for elected fire commissioners and three seats for people appointed from the Marysville City Council. During talks both sides couldn’t agree on the makeup for the new fire authority board. Part of the issue is that annexations in recent years have brought more than 80 percent of the district’s total tax base into city limits.
“We’re still trying to come to grips on that,” Bontrager said. “The regional fire authority should be its own governance, separate of the city, and the city feels like they should have 80 percent control of the board that represents the RFA.”
Both the Arlington Fire Department and the Lake Stevens Fire District also have expressed interest in new partnerships with Marysville, Hirashima said.
In May, the Lake Stevens district sent the Marysville district a letter asking for an informal meeting about working together. They met at least once. The content of those conversations are being kept under wraps.
“We have no other information to offer at this time,” Lake Stevens fire district spokeswoman Laana Larson said this week. “Both districts are keeping very busy.”
The city of Marysville will continue to look at the numbers and might hire a consultant again to study the choices, Hirashima said.
“There’s no rush to make a decision this year,” she said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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