The cost of fire and emergency services continue to rise each year and many cities struggle to keep up. Bothell is no different.

The Bothell City Council voted June 18 to direct city staff to start looking into the possibility of forming a regional fire authority. The controversial move could ultimately cut costs and increase services.

A regional fire authority would replace the Bothell Fire Department and potentially merge services with departments in other cities. The city of Kirkland is also looking into the idea, according to one Bothell City Council member.

The benefit is better coordination and lower overhead, effectively reducing redundancies, city staff said.

“A [regional fire authority] would effectively put more boots on the ground,” said Bothell City Manager Bob Stowe, who also said it would give the city a better chance of keeping up with the costs of emergency services long-term.

It could supply Bothell with needed service in the south end of the city near Kirkland. But it would also initially require more money from taxpayers.

Stowe told the council that the disadvantages are a loss of direct control and additional taxpayer costs.

The purpose of the vote was to allow city staff to work with other cities to see what the benefits and costs would be to forming a regional fire authority.

Bothell’s Public Safety Committee recommended the initial study on May 30 that the council used to come to its decision.

“The study concludes that the cost under the current model of providing fire services will continue to climb, requiring that additional resources be diverted from other important public safety or quality of life services, and or, a combination of tax increases and service reductions to achieve long-term sustainability,” said Stowe. “A [regional fire authority] has the ability to reduce overhead and eliminate the duplication of services.”

During the meeting, the council had a choice of doing nothing, studying the regional fire authority closer or studying the formation of a fire district.

A fire authority is governed by a group of city council members from each city involved. Voters directly choose the district commissioners of a fire district, with no input from the individual cities. State law also dictates the model for a regional fire authority.

Not all the council members were in favor of moving forward with the study.

“The fire services we have now are not broken, it is the funding,” said Councilman Patrick Ewing, who voted against the study, along with Councilman Andy Rheaume. “The study says that if you are doing this to fix a funding issue this probably isn’t the right decision to be making.”

Ewing continued that he would “prefer to look at what Kirkland did with a tax levy. We need to drop this and pursue a more likely option.”

“The city of Kirkland just took $100,000 out of its budget to study a [regional fire authority],” said Ewing.

Any move towards a fire authority would require a public vote and the study requires public involvement through public hearings and comment periods.

Some critics say the city is moving too fast.

“If the city divests itself of fire and EMS service and moves that responsibility to a new taxing district, our property taxes will go up,” said city council candidate Tris Samberg during public comment. “The question is how much.”

Samberg took issue with the council not holding more public hearings, giving the public more of a choice or making the issue more known to the public before going forward with the study.

Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb said the council is far from making any final decisions and that there will be multiple opportunities for public comment.

“This allows us to have conversations with neighboring jurisdictions,” said Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb. “… We need to go after a [regional fire authority] to get enough information because it involves other cities.”

Woodinville Fire Commissioner Mark Emery also spoke in support and delivered a letter of support for moving towards a regional fire authority. Bothell already contracts with Woodinville for emergency services.

“Woodinville Fire and Rescue is in full support of a regional fire authority,” said Emery. “With this contract we have already seen the crystal ball of what the benefits would be.”

Tony Woods, a representative of the fire fighters union, also spoke in support.