Editor:
Edmonds faces insolvency by 2027. The mayor and council have a budget to balance. They have said it is heartless to lay off employees – but isn’t it heartless to put the burden on the taxpayer? Edmonds pays a total of $6.2 million to the city for fire/EMS. Council is pushing to annex Edmonds to the Regional Fire Authority (RFA) since it is central to how they intend to balance the budget. City council intends to keep charging residents $6.2 million and place that money in the general fund to bridge its $13 million deficit – and using this money to continue to pay for 50 city employees it refuses to lay off to balance the budget. This is double taxation.
This is stealing. Under RFA annexation the taxpayer will pay approximately $960 more a year on a $1 million home. In addition, the mayor and council just approved a $5 million levy for 2025.
The RFA needs Edmonds more than we need it. Their 2025 budget shows a deficit of $10.6 million. They need Edmonds to continue paying their $200K -$350K salaries, benefits, and growing their behemoth organization. We’re RFA’s piggy bank.
Some councilmembers have taken donations from the firefighters to support their political campaigns. You’ve seen signs attached to campaign yard signs saying they are endorsed by the firefighters. Are these CMs conflicted? Should they recuse themselves from votes related to RFA annexation? Is this now a quid pro quo? They owe a fiduciary responsibility to the voters who elected them – not the RFA.
Theresa Hutchison
Edmonds
Misappropriating taxpayer funds is an ethical quandary, regardless of the rationalization. The conduct of the mayor and City Council in using funds through deceitful means is truly disgraceful.
Right on, Theresa. The Council is putting their self interests, the RFA, and Edmonds employees ahead of the taxpayers which is just not right. The Mayor and Council are pushing for an RFA annexation vote because it is the easy way out for them to have the RFA directly tax residents. The RFA is proposing a 65% increase in the price of their services for 2026. That is unconscionable. The Council paid for a biased consulting report that said the RFA is the least cost fire/ems provider. The Council refuses to do due diligence on alternative fire/ems providers, including an Edmonds-owned fire department, that could save $6-8M per year.
Readers need to petition the Council to delay the annexation vote, negotiate a better 2026 contract with the RFA, and evaluate alternative ways to provide fire/ems services.
the Petition link: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-to-rfa-regional-fire-authority-annexation
and the link to Public Comments to the Council: https://www.edmondswa.gov/government/city_council/online_public_comment
Wow! That is shocking. Never in favor of questionable management and appropriation of taxpayer funds. And especially putting all the burden on taxpayers/property owners. Maybe full disclosure of employee roles and salaries should be available.
At the Dec, 3, Council mtg. CM Eck asked that the minutes be amended. Specifically she “wanted to make sure that the citizens of Edmonds have empathy in mind when talking about City staff and making cuts to the budget.” Most certainly, we/Edmonds have empathy for them (City staff) but the council’s duty and legal obligation as well as fiduciary is to the citizens, not City employees. It’s the taxpayers tax dollars, not councils’. When we talk about the Edmonds taxpayer let’s be clear who we are talking about. We are talking about a population where 75% earn under $69,000/yr per capita, and 40% of the 75% earn under $49,000/yr per capita. We are talking about young families with children in this economy struggling to put food on the table as evidenced by the growing lines at our Edmonds Food Bank (and forget about saving for their children’s future); senior citizens whose property values and assessments have grown but their incomes have not; our veterans who have returned from serving us/their country with disabilities – PTSD, limb amputations, paralyzed and confined to wheelchairs, loss of sight ….. These are the folks our mayor and council are pushing the RFA annexation on, the additional $960/yr increase in taxes and now a levy lift in 2025 of $6 million. Think about them and have empathy.