The fire district idea is back: Strauss proposes $150,000 to study it, and a report on a 'fire benefit charge'

An idea for paying for the Seattle Fire Department outside the city's main budget is back on the City Council's table. Budget Chair Dan Strauss filed two items for Thursday's Select Budget Committee meeting that would study creating a fire protection district and a fee called a fire benefit charge, according to Central Staff's City Budget Office packet.

Why residents should care: a fire district could be a new property tax or fee on your bill, decided by voters, and it would change how the city's roughly $350 million fire budget is funded. Nothing would change without later Council action and an election, but the study is the first step.

The two items

CBO-002-A would spend $150,000 in 2027, one time, for an independent consultant to study the feasibility of a fire protection district in Seattle: legal pathways, fiscal effects and how it would operate. Central Staff says the goal is to give the Council and mayor "objective information" before any decision.

CBO-003S-A asks the executive to begin work on a possible fire benefit charge and report by June 1, 2027. The packet describes a benefit charge as a tool available to fire districts that sets each property's share of fire costs by factors such as size, type of structure, commercial or residential use and the resources needed to fight a fire there. Sprinkler systems could lower the charge; hazardous materials could raise it.

Both list Strauss as prime sponsor, with Council President Joy Hollingsworth and Debora Juarez as co-sponsors.

How we got here

In May, PubliCola reported that Mayor Katie Wilson's office was working with the Fire Department on a possible district to help close a deficit of about $150 million to $175 million. According to that report:

• A district would be a separate government with the Council as its board, much like the Seattle Park District.
• It could levy property taxes or a benefit charge, outside the $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed value cap that the city is nearing, after a state law change this year.
• Moving even half the fire budget into a district would close a year's deficit.
• Funding would depend on recurring voter approval.

By June, the idea was dead "at least for this year," PubliCola reported, because the firefighters union did not support it. The union reportedly wanted, at a minimum, a direct role on the district's board.

What our records add

It comes during the fire overtime fight. The mayor's budget cuts about $7.1 million a year in fire overtime. Two Council fixes are on the table: Strauss's full restoration and a $5.1 million version from Dionne Foster, Eddie Lin and Alexis Mercedes Rinck, as we reported in Restoring fire overtime has wide support. On Wednesday, Maritza Rivera announced she had also submitted a proposal to restore the $7 million, co-sponsored by Robert Kettle and Rob Saka, in a Council release.

Strauss's other budget office items. Strauss also filed CBO-005-A, about $1.2 million one-time to keep 13 employees facing layoff on the payroll for six more months. He filed 10 of Thursday's 66 proposals, tied for the most, by our count.

The cost so far. The $150,000 is small, but like every addition it competes with other asks for the roughly $26 million the Council has identified for new spending, according to PubliCola.

What's next

• Thursday, Oct. 29: Strauss presents the items (agenda item). No votes are taken.
• Nov. 4: his balancing package. Nov. 5: public hearing (meeting page).
• June 1, 2027: the fire benefit charge report would be due to the Council's finance committee, if the request is adopted.