NWFR withdraws from regional fire authority

Negotiations to form a regional fire authority (RFA) encompassing North Whatcom Fire and Rescue (NWFR) and Whatcom County Fire District 4 (WCFD4) have foundered following an April 15 decision by NWFR fire commissioners to drop out of the negotiations. The two districts had been planning an amalgamation of the both districts into a cohesive regional fire authority earlier this year. A RFA means residents from Agate Bay to Birch Bay would be served under one district and would join a group of 12 RFAs already established throughout the state.

In explaining their move, NWFR fire commissioners cited “cultural and strategic differences” between the districts. A decision that was once expected to be on the 2021 ballot for voters will now be delayed, most likely with planning to begin after the November commissioner elections, according to the districts.

Levy expected on August ballot

For residents of NWFR, otherwise known as Whatcom County Fire District 21, and Whatcom County Fire District 4 (WCFD4), a ballot measure to increase the property tax levy that funds fire and rescue operations will appear on incoming ballots in the August 3 primary elections.

If approved by voters, the proposed levy lid lift will increase the levy rate to $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed property value (APV). The current maximum levy amount allowed under state law is $1.50 per $1,000 APV, with a yearly increase capped at 1 percent per year.

This will be the first time NWFR has asked voters to increase their levy rate since 2009. For WCFD4, it will be the first vote to increase levies since 1994.

For residents of WCFD4, which serves the north side of Lake Whatcom, this will mean a change from $1.03 ($0.82 base levy plus a $0.21 Emergency Medical Service levy) per $1,000 APV to $1.45. With this increase, however, residents will no longer have to pay the $0.21 EMS levy.

NWFR residents could see a $0.30 increase from today’s $1.15, which the fire district’s website described as, “insufficient to maintain current service levels or to meet future demands.”

NWFR board chair Bruce Ansell said that Whatcom County’s growing population, coupled with rising operational costs, have made a levy increase crucial to continue providing high-quality service to their residents.

“The cost of fuel has gone up. The cost of apparatus has gone up. The cost of everything that we do has gone up, and now we’re experiencing a significant growth in our population, and a significant growth in our demand for service,” Ansell said.

NWFR, which provides service to roughly 38,000 residents in Blaine, Birch Bay,  Semiahmoo and unincorporated Whatcom County surrounding Lynden, says on its website that it responded to 3,679 calls in 2020, an increase of over 52 percent since 2011, while operating on the same budget.

“Long story short,” Ansell said. “We need to lift the lid.”

Interlocal extension buys time for RFA negotiations

In a May 11 media release, the two districts announced they were signing a new interlocal agreement for NWFR to continue providing operational and logistical services for WCFD4 after January 1, 2022. The original agreement, which has been in place for nearly a decade, was set to expire on December 31, 2021.

The agreement to extend the interlocal agreement another year was done as a last-minute stopgap to continue providing adequate service after extensive talks for the two districts to form into one larger regional fire authority collapsed in April.

A regional fire authority means both districts would combine into one jurisdiction, governed by one board of commissioners, and funded by the same tax levy. RFAs have been established around the state, like the Valley Regional Fire Authority, which combined fire departments from Auburn, Pacific and Algona into one cohesive service in 2007.

NWFR and WCFD4 were in talks to have a RFA vote ready for the August 3 primary elections, but planning fell through after NWFR backed out due to what NWFR chair Bruce Ansell called, “a trust issue” between leadership in the district boards.

In an April 19 media release announcing NWFR’s decision to halt pursuing the combined district, NWFR cited “cultural and strategic differences between the two fire commissions” that made negotiations wrought with challenges. The resignation of former WCFD4 chair Dave Hanson in early May also meant that talks would be forced to stall until new commissioner elections were held in November.

“We wanted to put the RFA vote on the ballot this year,” Ansell said in a statement. “But with the resignation of District 4’s former board chair, that work will have to wait until 2022.”

In a special board of commissioners meeting on May 3, Hanson said he fully supported the regional fire authority concept, but added, “I do not feel, sitting in my position as chair, that I was in the best position to help continue that move forward.”

Mark Lann, the newly elected board chair for WCFD4, said his first order of business was salvaging the relationship between the two districts and restarting the regional fire authority conversation.

“Bruce and I, again, have committed to restarting those RFA talks. That’s our goal, that’s his goal, that’s my goal,” Lann said.

Even with leadership in agreement between the two districts, Lann admits there are still hurdles to come in the process, one of the largest being district elections this upcoming November.

WCFD4 has all three of its board seats up for election, and NWFR has two of its five seats up for election. Without an assurance of who will be leading these fire districts come 2022, Lann said they were wary of restarting talks too soon.

“Unfortunately, time was not on our side,” Lann said. “But once we get past the August election and November election for commissioners, if I’m still here, that’s going to be my number on goal – getting the RFA done.”