Arlington considers merger with North County Fire & EMS

Arlington officials continue to look for sustainable solutions for fire and emergency services as they talk with North County Fire and EMS about a potential merger.

North County Fire and EMS is a Regional Fire Authority (RFA) that covers the area northwest of Arlington into the Stanwood and Warm Beach areas.

Discussions began earlier this year between the two organizations about the city of Arlington's fire services being annexed into the RFA.

"A committee was put together early in the year and they've been meeting," said Paul Ellis, Arlington city administrator.

The committee has two members of the Arlington City Council, two members of the North County Fire and EMS commission and staff from each organization.

"The goal was to research and look through the 'what ifs' of Arlington being annexed into North County Fire and EMS and see if there was enough benefit to that," said Ellis.

The biggest driving concern for the city of Arlington is the increasing cost of running fire and emergency services.

"Just the cost of Fire and EMS makes it challenging to keep the program funded. An RFA model we be a way to have a stable funding system," said Ellis.

RFAs have the ability to put tax measures before the voters of a district, something that cities have a more limited ability to do.

"We created an ambulance fee a couple of years ago to help fund these services, but that was sort of a stopgap measure until we could find a long-term solution to provide better service," said Ellis.

This isn't the first time the city of Arlington has been in negotiations to potentially join an RFA.

"We talked to Marysville a few years ago about the possibility of an RFA with them," said Ellis, but that plan didn't work out.

The committee has currently been talking about the practicalities of how an RFA between the two organizations would work.

"The talks have been going through the logistics right now," said Ellis. "How it could be configured to provide the same or better benefits."

There are possible economies of scale the city would benefit from if they joined a larger organization that could help save money as well, said Ellis.

"When the council reconvenes in September they plan to talk more about the financial impacts," said Ellis, who added that a decision on whether to move forward with joining North County Fire and EMS would likely be made before the end of the year.

If the Arlington City Council wants to approve the annexation into the RFA that decision would still need to go before local voters.

Ellis said at this point the earliest it would be on the ballot is in the February 2021 election.

More information and updates about the RFA process for Arlington are available at arlingtonwa.gov/672.