Same Service Marriage: Two Alarm Merger?
ByThe playas at Lakewood fire are at it again, macking another community with that sweet, sweet talk of merger, or is it consolidation, or is it any other line they will use to get into the taxpayer’s pants (pocket, that is). They figure who can resist their big, strong fire service. This time they are using their one handed unclasping maneuver to expose the bountiful resources of their neighbor to the north, University Place. I guess they feel they had no other choice when they discovered that their neighbor to the south wouldn’t put out after a two year courtship. Of course, they were not content to remain “just” friends and soothed their ego elsewhere.
Whoa, who can resist those bountiful tax bases?
Here is the reprint of the article that appeared this past week in the Tacoma News Tribune:
BRENT CHAMPACO; Staff writer
Published: 02/04/1012:05 am | Updated: 02/04/1012:18 pm
University Place and Lakewood fire officials say merging the two districts makes financial sense. Some residents support the move, while others doubt whether their tax dollars would be spent wisely.
About 60 people attended a University Place Fire District 3 board meeting Tuesday night to discuss a proposed merger.
“I firmly believe this is a good deal for Lakewood; I do not believe this is a good deal for University Place.” said Scott Stephen, a UP resident who questioned whether his city needs the same full-time specialty services as its big-city neighbor.
Bill Bush, UP’s former fire chief, said the two districts have common interests. He said that wasn’t necessarily the case in the 1990s, when other merger attempts failed.
“As far as a ‘them-us’ mentality – please. We’ve been down that road before, and it serves no purpose,” he said.
After a yearlong study, the Lakewood Fire District 2 Board of Commissioners voted in January to pursue a merger. The two districts border each other in the west end of Pierce County.
Lakewood would dissolve its fire district and merge into University Place’s, which would be known locally as West Pierce Fire & Rescue. It would be governed by a single board, which initially would be composed of the merged boards.
The UP district’s board is now considering the merger and is scheduled to vote on it by early March. If the commissioners support it, then Lakewood residents, not UP’s, would vote as early as next year.
On Tuesday, chiefs of both districts – Mitch Sagers of UP and Ken Sharp of Lakewood – said a merger would be good for both communities.
The districts could pool their resources, including firetrucks, training facilities and experts, they said. Lakewood also would provide services that UP doesn’t have, such as a marine unit, which could be helpful when Pierce County opens two miles of beach at Chambers Creek Properties.
Sharp said the change would result in almost $1 million in savings to taxpayers. This year, Lakewood residents paid almost $3 per $1,000 assessed property value for fire and EMS protection, while UP residents paid $2.86 per $1,000.
Sagers said mergers – or “regionalization,” in firefighter talk – has been a trend throughout the South Sound; there were 32 fire districts or departments in 1990, compared with 21 last year.
The number could shrink by one more if voters approve merging the Edgewood Fire Department with East Pierce Fire & Rescue on Tuesday.
“All things considered, the merger is a sensible move,” Sagers said, quoting a consultant’s report from October 2009.
But some residents who spoke Tuesday didn’t agree.
Michael Holman was one of the people who pushed for University Place to become a city in 1995. He said locals wanted more autonomy of their government and tax dollars.
They would be giving up some of that power under a merger, he said.
“The fact of the matter is, you would shift control,” he said, pointing to the UP fire commissioners.
But Dixie Harris, who is active on the UP scene, said she trusts that the fire district knows what it needs to be successful.
“I can’t help but believe their decisions are in the best interests” of both cities, she said.
Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653
brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com
Same dance, different song. Here is the twist: Lakewood would dissolve its fire district in order to merge into the U.P. district. The hope is to form a power couple, and maybe it will work; it isn’t like these are opposites attracting, as was the case with DuPont.
It will be interesting to see if DuPont behaves like a jilted lover. After all, the DuPont Washington voters left Pierce County Fire District 2 at the altar in two elections in a span of five months just about a year ago. Lakewood has moved on and they are hoping that doing well is the best revenge. Perhaps they will now that they appear to have found a better fit.
Lakewood FD selling their goods like AMWAY. Why are they so pushy?
LW needs help paying down their mountain of debt.
Our Mayor’s Lakewood merger mission has died and become obsolete.
Now she faces an odd situation. How will she sell the renewal of an enhanced EMS levy now that she made the move to kill our ambulance? It appears the EMS levy tax funds from 2006 to present has been consumed by staff raises and unchecked overtime.
Next time Mayor, kill the funding for the museum and the event coordinator, maybe you’d get EMS levy support from your community.
It seems that Lakewood is shopping the surrounding area for a buyer. Why are they so anxious to partner up with someone? Does that mean that DuPont is finally out?
Concerned,
LWFD is like the Borg, their mission in life is to create more Borg. They will come back for more.
From what I see, it is inevitable with Penny and Tamara inside City Hall. They are pro fire union, and the fire union wants the mergers to happen, pay increases are a result.
Our problem is that our neighbor is Steilacoom and they cling to their public safety model. Of course, they are built out, they have no real industry so most of their calls are to houses and cars. I can’t see DuPont trying to enter much of an agreement with them and if Lakewood does merge with UP then they probably will stop at that district.
If you watch the CC meeting when the new DuPont Fire Chief was introduced, He said that he will have DuPont Fire regionalize in three years.