As it now stands, if the nearby Town of Woodway needs police service, the City of Edmonds will provide it according to an interlocal agreement between the two jurisdictions. Problem is, Woodway only pays when police respond — on a “fee per call” basis — which the Edmonds City Council believes doesn’t cover the true cost of supplying a police officer.

To address the issue, the Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night putting Woodway on notice that Edmonds intends to drop the fee-for-police-call service when the contract comes up for renewal next year.

According to the resolution, economic conditions have forced Edmonds to “accept certain reductions in services to its own citizens” and further service reductions are possible. The current fee-per-call agreement with the Town of Woodway “does not cover the true cost of the police services provided by the City of Edmonds,” the resolution noted, adding that a full service contract “would allow the City of Edmonds to capture the true cost of police services provided to the Town of Woodway.”

“I’d love to be able to buy health insurance and only have to pay for it when I got to the doctor,” Councilmember DJ Wilson said. When it comes to police service, “that’s the contract we have with Woodway now,” he added.

During both the councilmember and audience comments section, concerns were expressed about the amount of money being spent in local political campaigns; in particular the recent independent expenditure of nearly $17,000 made by the National Association of Realtors on behalf of Dave Earling’s mayoral campaign — the largest independent expenditure on record for Edmonds.

In this case, the expenditure paid for direct mailings to voters and polling and consultant expenses, for a total of $16,963.05, according to the PDC report. My Edmonds News learned after Tuesday night’s Council meeting that the same National Association of Realtors group made an addition expenditure of $9,757.20 on Earling’s behalf — for a direct mailing to voters — for a total of $26,720.25.

Like the name implies, independent expenditures are done independently of the candidates, who have no control over the groups who are supporting them. They also are not subject to campaign donation limits (in Edmonds, the limit is $500 for city council and mayoral races.)

In other action Tuesday, the council:

– In a continuation from last week’s meeting, heard additional reports from City Department heads outlining their respective departments’ proposed 2012 budgets.

– Listened to an overview from the city’s newly hired compensation consultant, who is beginning his study of compensation for the city’s 40 non-represented employee and creation of job descriptions for all 207 Edmonds employees.

-Passed a proclamation declaring the month of October Pancreatic Cancer Awareness in Edmonds.