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Home My WebLink AboutSpecial 2022-06-13 COMPLETE AGENDA PACKET - FUTURE FIRE/EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WORK SESSION Special Meeting: Future of Fire/EMS Services Work Session Monday, June 13, 2022 5:30 p.m. Join on your computer or mobile app Click here to join the meeting 6200 Southcenter Blvd To listen to the meeting, dial 1-253-292-9750, 189 301 456# Ag enda I. II. III. IV. 5/3/22) Additional Background Material: Future of Fire/EMS Services Webpage(link) 1 Future of Fire/EMS Services Council Question Follow-Up& Parking Lot DateCouncilmember Comment/Question/Item Response 1.5/23/22 Sharp There was a Safety Bond that was in process for 79 million, there was There is not an overage associated with the Public Safety Bond. Voters talk if there was an overage. What was the final cost of relating to the approved $79M, and the city did not have authority to spend beyond bond? that. One fire station was removed from the total plan due to the increased costs in the construction market during that timeframe. The bond itself was contained to $79 million. What changed was what the City was able to construct within the constraint of $79 million. 2.5/23/22 Sharp Are there details on what the bond spent it money on, can a breakdown All information related to the bond is part of the public record and be had for citizens to review? available to the community. Additional financial detail can be found in this December 9, 2019 memo to the Finance Committee. In addition, the City Council appointed an independent Financial Oversight Committee, and more information on this work can be found at its webpage. 3.5/23/22 Sharp What is the timeframe as far making the final decision on the process? PSRFA has asked for a decision by July 1, 2022, to allow time for their What is in this process as to why the timeline is short? implementation process. The PSRFA Fire Chief did say a grace period to July 15, 2022, would still work if needed. 4.5/23/22 Sharp How many positions would need if the contract for service is adopted? The contract would affect all positions in Fire, including represented and Where are the positions allocated? non-represented. 5.5/23/22 Sharp When will the Chief of Fire need to resign from their position if this The July date refers to a Council decision point, not when a transition transition takes place in July? would occur. Final disposition of all positions will be determined during the contract negotiation process. What happens to the Deputy Chief, will they also be asked to resign or Final disposition of all positions will be determined during the contract 6.5/23/22 Sharp be offered a position within Tukwila Fire?negotiation process. 7.5/23/22 Sharp Will there be any support positions that the City of Tukwila will lose, like Final disposition of all positions will be determined during the contract mechanics? negotiation process. 8.5/23/22 Sharp Who will own the Tukwila Fire’s assets, like the stations, fire-fighting Based on other contracts, equipment has been transferred to the RFA and equipment, and vehicles? stations have been retained by the city or agency. Final disposition of assets will be determined during the contract negotiation process; Council direction required here. 2 Specifically, the equipment that has yet to be fully paid, who pays those The City of Tukwila will retain the debt from the Public Safety Bond. The 9.5/23/22 Sharp items off? servicing of the Public Safety Bond funds used to build the new stations will still be the responsibility of the City of Tukwila. The equipment and apparatus discussed above has been paid. Final disposition of assets will be determined during the contract negotiation process. Who is responsible to replace those items, trucks, and equipment?This will be largely dependent on whether we annex to the PSRFA or are 10.5/23/22 Sharp still under contract and subject to contract negotiations. 11.5/23/22 Sharp Pensions and retirement for firefighter personnel, is that paid by the Pension and retirement is through the state LEOFF 2 system. The retired new authority completely? LEOFF 1 fire fighters will continue to be the responsibility of the City of Tukwila. 12.5/23/22 Sharp Who will be responsible to service the vehicles for repair? Depending on contract negotiations, if the vehicles transfer, all maintenance and/or replacement could be the responsibility of the PSRFA. Alternatively, the City may choose to retain that service. 13.5/23/22 Sharp Will the addition of fire stations be required and if so, is it replacement No additional fire stations are required. of an existing station or will they be stand alone built stations? How many? 14.5/23/22 Sharp What will happen to the budget dollars that was allocated to fire, will They will be used to pay for the contract for services with the RFA. that line item go away? 15.5/23/22 Sharp The cost for service, will this be separate line item, or will it just show up Under the contracting model, funds for fire service will continue to come blended into a citizen’s taxes? from the City’s general fund and will not be a separate assessment to taxpayers. 16.6/6/22Hougardy, Kruller Why can’t we proceed immediately into an annexation process? Why PSRFA Chief Morris will be available to answer this question. does the RFA require a contract first? 17.6/6/22Hougardy Do we have recourse if the contract goes long?Ultimately that will depend on the contract negotiations. The current contracts for services that the PSRFA has provide a minimum of five years for contracting and a two-year notification for voluntary termination of the contract. 3 18.6/6/22Hougardy The City has no seat at the table with a contract. Where is the assurance Current PSRFA contracts provide one ad hoc nonvoting member. This that this will not be a problem? will need to be resolved in contract negotiations. Chief Morris will be available to address this question. 19.6/22Kruller What is the cost variance between status quo, contract, and annexation?See Attachment 2, Cost Comparison of Options (presented at 5/3/22 CAC Meeting) How would the recommendations from the CPSM Operational and 20.6/6/22Kruller, McLeod This will be addressed atthe next discussion. Administrative Analysis be addressed via contract or annexation? How do I know that CARES and Fire Marshal enhanced services will be 21.6/6/22Kruller These will be addressed via the contract negotiations. included when I have heard at other times that will not be the case? What are the offramps with the contract? 22.6/6/22Kruller This will need to be resolved in contract negotiations. The current contracts for services that the PSRFA has require a minimum of two- years notice for voluntary termination of the contract. 23.6/6/22Kruller What triggers an annexation vote by the public and what does not? As it relates to a contract, this will need to be negotiated. Ultimately, both the governing board of the RFA and the City Council would need to act to put annexation out to a public vote. What are the top 3 reasons IAFF 2088 favors a contract? 24.6/6/22Kruller IAFF Local 2088 President Booth will be available to answer this question. What do we get back if we do not progress from a contract to 25.6/6/22McLeod This will depend on contract negotiations. annexation? What are the mechanics/roles associated with contract negotiations? 26.6/6/22McLeod Staff is looking for direction from the City Council on the best way to engage in contract negotiations and key terms assuming that the Council wants to move forward. Why did the Committee recommend PSRFA over Renton? 27.6/7/22McLeod See Attachment 3, CAC Survey Results 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 City of Tukwila Future of Fire/EMS Community Advisory Committee Survey Results Summary TotalReponses:10 Numbers reflect Weighted Average byResponse - 5 = 5 points, 1 = 1 point Option 1: Option 6: Option 8: Option 9: Option 2: Option 3: Option 4: Option 5: Option 7: Status Quo Contract Annex to Annex to Status Tukwila Tukwila Tukwila Contract with Renton RFA Puget Quo + Fire District Fire District Fire RFA - with Puget Renton RFASound RFA Enhanced - Property + Fire with other Sound RFA # Questions Services Taxes Benefit agency Charge 1 Ability of provider to meet needs of diverse community3.63.8 3.13.7 3.73.3 4.5 3.94.6 Abilityofprovidertomeetneedsoflargebusiness 2community3.84.13.74.04.04.04.64.24.6 3 Total costs, considering both costs to residents and businesses 2.92.2 1.71.9 2.12.5 2.9 3.43.6 4 Impactonlaborforce,recruitmentandretention2.22.22.22.32.33.04.03.94.9 5 Control over operational and financial decisions 4.34.1 3.63.9 3.72.6 3.1 3.02.9 6 Overallqualityofservices(responsetimesandmore)4.14.13.33.73.74.04.64.04.4 7 Accountability for outcomes/ability to measure outcomes3.83.7 3.63.8 3.72.6 3.2 2.83.2 8 Sustainabilityoffunding1.81.61.92.32.62.32.83.84.3 My overall rating ofthis option 2.42.3 2.02.6 2.42.4 2.8 3.64.1 Cells are shaded to denote the two highest (green) and two lowest (peach) ratings in each row. 25 Overview/Recap of the Approaches that the Two RFAs have taken inExisting Service Contracts April 2022 Item Puget Sound RFA Renton RFA Contract Bid given to Tukwila$14.2M$14.4M Note: these numbers are There may be an opportunity to reduce the preliminary, subject to refinement PSRFA reserves cost since the City’s we know RRFA’s number exclude some costs— and negotiation equipment, apparatus and 2 of 4 facilities particularly some labor costs and dispatch costs are in very good shape Who else does the RFA contract Maple Valley Fire District Fire District 40 with? City of SeaTac Governance Contract agencies have a nonvoting seat on the governance board. A liaison to the contract agency is also identified. What happens to the City’s fire They all go to the RFA, except the Chief and possibly the deputy chief. Staff transferred retain rank and do department employees?not take a pay cut. What does the City pay for? In both cases, the City would pay for the operational staff needed to operate the 4 city stations at current staffing levels. This is 52 Firefighters(13 per day (4-shifts) The other firefighters at the Citygo over to the RFA and are absorbed in different parts of the agency but aren’t charged back to the City The RFAs charge overhead for capital/equipment/apparatus reserves. The allocation formulas are different for each overhead item and differ as between the two agencies. How long will the proposed The Sea Tac contract& Maple Valley contracts are The FD 40 contract is for 20 years. contract term be? How soon could for 20 years. It cannot be terminated in the first 8 years except or the City terminate if it wanted to? material breach. They cannot be terminated in the first five years except for material breach. Thereafter, voluntary termination requires 3 years Note: The terms are subject to Thereafter, voluntary termination requires 2 years advance notice. negotiation. advance notice What do the contracts say about The contracts do not make reference to annexation.The contract with FC 40 does not make any reference annexation? to annexation Note:this would be a topic for negotiation What do the contracts say about The City is required to make the RFA whole for some Not discussedsince no FD 40 employees were what happens to firefighters if the transferred as part of the current contract. accrued employee costs. City ends the contract? If the termination happens after the first 7 years but Note: the terms are subject to before the first 15 years of the contract, and: negotiation. the City re-establishes its fire department, 26 Item Puget Sound RFA Renton RFA the RFA fires employees as a result of the contract ending “the City has sufficient resources” ..then, the City is required to rehire up to the number of employees required for minimum staffing under the contract that are laid off by the RFA (those employees could decline the offer and go elsewhere). Additional staff above that amount that are laid off have an option to seek employment with the City. If the termination happens after the first 15 years, and layoffs will happen, the RFA must give all personnel the option to transfer to the City in order of seniority. If additional layoffs still needed, City must offer employment to those folks before hiring other personnel. If the City isn’t seeking to re-establish its fire department, the parties will “work cooperatively and make reasonable efforts to place any laid off employees with the entity that becomes responsible” for fire service delivery in the City. PaymentsSeaTac is invoiced quarterly.Semi-annual invoices. There is an annual true-up in the contract amount if No true-up of expenses. the billing for the prior year was lower or higher than the actual expenses incurred by the RFA—the difference is applied to the SeaTac bill the next year. Title to stations, apparatus Apparatus title is transferred. Equipment is transferred. These could be sold back to theoriginal entity. Facilities are leased or transferred 27 Fire Benefit Charge—Deeper Dive Prepared for Future of Fire/EMS Community Advisory Committee / Meeting 5 / February 15, 2022 What’s a Fire Benefit Charge? A Fire Benefit Charge (FBC) is an alternative supplemental funding mechanism governed by Chapter 52.18 RCW. Unlike the property tax, which is based on the value of both building structures and land, the FBC is imposed only on the improvements to real property and must be reasonably apportioned using a formula that considers the amount of services required to serve these properties. Only parcels with improvements are subject to the Benefit charge. The FBC does not take into consideration the value of the improvements. If a FBC is imposed, the General (Fire) Property Tax levy cannot exceed $1.00 per $1,000 (rather than $1.50 if there is no FBC). The Benefit Charge does not affect the EMS levy rate an agency may impose.1 Before it can be imposed, a FBC must be voter approved (60% favorable vote, without validation). Collections can be increased by the Board of Commissioners from year to year without voter approval but cannot exceed 60% of the agency operating budget. There is no 1% cap on the amount that can be collected year to year as is true with property tax. The initial FBC is authorized for six years and needs to be reapproved by voters every six years. The reauthorization requires a simple majority vote. Recent changes in state law allow voters to approve 10 year or permanent reauthorizations of the FBC- but these require 60% approval. Annually, the board of fire commissioners sets the amount to be collected from the FBC and confirms the formula. The total revenue collected from the FBC cannot exceed 60% of the operating budget. Typically, the basic formula approach stays the same, but the total collected increases to address the shortfalls in the budget not addressed by property tax. So, what’s the formula? The basic formula is somewhat inscrutable to the average person, but it is based on a nationally accepted approach to calculate the amount of fire flow needed to put out a structure. Specifically, FBC formulas typically include the following components: A.The Square Footage of improvements B.Fire Flow (SQRT(Sq. Ft.) x 18) – incorporating square footage C.Structure Category Weight Factor D.Cost per gallon E.Discounts (sprinklers, seniors and low income) An oversimplified formula is presented below: Square Footage x Fire Flow x Cost per Gallon x Structure Category Weight Factorx Discount or Additional Risk Charge = FBC If there is a County EMS levy—as in King County—local fire agencies cannot impose their own EMS levy. 1 28 Walk me through this…how is my cost determined? The major driver of the FBC for any property owner is the size of the improvements on their property, and the category of structure type (residential, commercial, etc.). Square Footage This information is from the County assessor and includes not only primary residences/structures (including garage), but outbuildings on property as well. Fire Flow Fire Flow is the gallons of water required to put out a fire. It is calculated based on the formula SQRT(Sq. Ft.) x 18. (square root of the square footage of improvements multiplied by 18). This is a nationally recognized formula for calculating fire flow. (Ref: NFPA Handbook, 18th Ed., Ch 6, Water Flow Requirements for Fire Protection) Structure Categories & Weights Once the structure categories are identified, they are refined by the application of a weighting factor. Each category is assigned a weighted value that results in a targeted and defined portion of the benefit charge. In other words, the structure category weights define how much of the total benefit charge will be paid by each structure category. Sample categories: Single Family Residential Mobile Home Multi Family Small commercial Medium commercial Large commercial Cost Per Gallon The cost per gallon is determined by dividing the total fire flow by the Dollar amount of the Benefit Charge. Discount or Additional Risk Charge Statutes allow for discounts for structures that have sprinkler systems. By statute, senior and low income discounts are also applied. Some agencies have additional risk charges for particularly hazardous structures – for example, commercial gas storage. Exemptions State law exempts various types of property entirely from the FBC, such as, schools, church’s, public and nonprofit low income housing, and government structures. 29 An oversimplified picture of how the FBC comes together 1.2.3.4.5. Identify categories of Identify square Determine the Identify any discounts Do the math! structures you will use footage and type weighting for each applicable to the in your FBC formula. of each structure category (Board sets property – Typical set belowin your the weights)Sprinklers? jurisdiction and place it in the Identify any risk appropriate surcharges category Sample list:County assessor Weights increasewith County assessor Determine the bill for records provide the size and complexity records provide this each structure. Mobile Home this information of structure use. It’s not information Single Family always a straight line— Residential some small commercial Multi family establishments may Small commercial have an FBC very much Medium commercial like a single family Large commercial residence. The weighting reflects the additional resources that are needed to put out a fire at these different types of structures Bills for an FBC are sent once a year by the County Assessor as part of the property tax statement (although the FBC is a fee, not a tax). An agency with an FBC must have an annual appeals process, similar to a property tax appeal process, but run locally by the agency imposing the fee, rather than the county assessor. 30 What’s the end result of using an FBC? 1.Agencies that would otherwise be wholly dependent on property taxes and periodic lid lifts can stabilize their revenues to meet costs as economic conditions and demand changes year to year, without going back to voters. Stability of revenues stabilizes service levels. 2.Total revenue collections can exceed the amount that would otherwise be collected by maximum property tax rates for a fire agency that doesn’t have an FBC. 3.With an FBC, cities who are within a fire district or RFA can retain more property tax capacity for their own use (since the fire agency’s property tax capacity is reduced in exchange for being able to impose an FBC. 4.Overall, the agency collects more revenue from larger, more complex structures than it does from single family homes. In other words, the FBC shifts costs to multi-family and larger commercial properties, and away from small single family residential homes. Most FBC formulas and structure classifications used in Puget Sound are fairly similar. What communities/fire service providers in our area have a fire benefit charge? Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority (Covington, Kent, Maple Valley & SeaTac) • Renton Regional Fire Authority • Valley Regional Fire Authority (Algona, Auburn, Pacific) • King County Fire District 36 (Woodinville) • North Highline Fire District (south of Seattle city limits) • Northshore Fire Department (Kenmore and Lake Forest Park) • Snoqualmie Pass Fire & Rescue • Shoreline Fire Department • Central Pierce Fire & Rescue • King County Fire District 10 (Carnation, May Valley, Tiger Mountain, Preston) • South County Fire (Lynnwood) • 31 Fire District/RFA finances with an RFA – simple Illustration: $ Cost of maintaining service over time Amount collected by FBC Property Tax levy lid lift Amount collected by FBCroperty Tax levy lid lift P Amount collected by $1.00 max property tax Amount collected by $1.00 m ax property taxax property tax Amount collected by $1.00 m Time Note that even with an FBC, an agency will want to periodically seek a property tax lid lift to restore purchasing power of its fire levy, and keep FBC collections within a preferred range (and under the 60% operating budget max.) 32 Contract Considerations Term Termination Annexation Timeframe Costs Services/Level of Service Public Records Governance Offramps Personnel Equipment/Apparatus Fire Stations/Land Facilities Maintenance (inside/outside) Any other issues from the City Council 33