2008/10/15 Council Agenda Packet

CITY OF EVERETT FISCAL ANNEXATION ANALYSIS Scenario 3. In the event of annexation under Scenario 3, the City would serve the annexation area from the existing Fire Station 7, which is located within the current city limits to the west of the Hilton Lake annexation area. In order to do so, the City proposes adding new positions that would serve both the annexation area and the southern portion of the City and keep staff from becoming stretched too thin with the addition of the new area. An estimated 18 additional FTEs would be needed, but these positions would serve the southern portion of the City as well as the annexed area. These FTEs include 4 Battalion Chiefs, 4 Captains, 4 Firefighters/Drivers, 4 Firefighters (because of the elimination of some overtime costs this results in a net new cost of 1 Firefighter position), 1 Fire Inspector, 1 Medical Services Officer, 1 Training Officer, 1 Community Outreach Specialist, and 1 Office Assistant. Additional one-time fleet, apparatus, and equipment costs are estimated to be approximately $358,000. To account for the fact that these positions will serve the current City as well as the annexation area, the cost of these positions has been modeled as being shared between the existing City and the annexation areas. In most cases the cost has been allocated based on a population percentage basis between the southern portion of the City and the annexation areas. The exceptions are two office positions which are apportioned based on population using total population within the City, rather than only the southern portion, since these positions will provide service to the whole City. The other exception is the Battalion Chief, estimated to spend one quarter of time serving the annexation area and the remainder serving the southern portion of the City. Costs for this position have been allocated accordingly. Scenario 4.Assuming annexation under Scenario 4, the City would acquire Fire Station 12 located in Larimer from Fire District 1. This would require staffing an Engine with 12 FTEs including 4 Captains, 4 Firefighters/Drivers, and 4 Firefighters, the costs for which are fully attributed to the annexation area. In addition, this scenario would include support from the existing City Fire Station 7 which would also require added staff with shared costs between the City and the annexation area. The shared FTEs are the same as those listed in Scenario 3 with the exception of 1 additional Office Assistant. Additional one-time fleet, apparatus, and equipment costs are estimated to be approximately$570,000. Recently state law was revised such that upon annexation the City takes responsibility for fire services and will also receive any Fire District levy revenues that are collected from the date of annexation until the beginning of the following calendar year (for more detail see ESSB 5836). As discussed in Section 6.3, we have assumed that in 2009, the City will be responsible for fire expenditures within the annexation area and will also receive Fire District 1's estimated levy collections from that area. In this case, as with police services, there may be a period of transition in which the City and Fire District 1 negotiate how fire services will be provided. Automatic Aid. Considering that there are some pockets of annexation areas that may be time- consuming and difficult to reach for Everett Fire Department, both scenarios would require an automatic aid agreement with Fire District 1, and potentially with Mukilteo and Lynnwood. Everett Fire Department expressed concern over their ability to provide a consistent level of service across the new City boundaries unless an automatic aid agreement was in place. This agreement would need to be negotiated by the parties involved. EL Final Report: October 2008 Page 40