The Kirkland City Council approved two resolutions concerning their plans for a new fire station, one of which in order to avoid having to sell off Station 25 as stipulated under their interlocal agreement (ILA) with King County Fire District 41.
The first resolution clarifies what the city considers to be the original intent of the ILA in order to rectify their new plan for improving fire service with certain stipulations in the ILA between the city with the district following the 2011 annexation of Finn Hill, Juanita and Kingsgate. The second resolution pertains to the city’s future plans for improving fire services in the city, as well as removes funding for planned projections based on residents’ concerns.
The council first touched on the issue back in September, then held a public hearing at its Oct. 20 meeting before approving the resolutions.
The ILA had the city assume responsibility for uncompleted district projects, which included plans for consolidating Station 24 and Station 25 to improve response times on Finn Hill. At the time of annexation, the district had $5.2 million total in cash reserves ($1.2 million) and limited general obligation debt annexation ($4 million) to pay for the project, funds which were transferred to the city as part of the ILA.
The ILA included stipulations as to how the funds were to be spent, such as requiring the assets be used for the benefit of taxpayers of the fire district. A provision in the ILA also requires the sale of the existing fire station sites, as the project as originally conceived would have had a newly constructed station on a new site. Under the ILA, the anticipated sales proceeds from the two stations were not considered a funding source for the station project but would be used to retire the bond debt.