February 2025 Proposition 1:
The Shoreline / Northshore RFA

The promised tax reduction is a ruse.

There are no real cost savings with the RFA.

The promised tax decreases are accomplished primarily by spending down $3,000,000 of General and Reserve Funds. This is a one-time trick. Reducing reserves is risky. (This spend down of reserves is what the Fire Department refers to as “Reduced Redundancies”.)

Authorization for a tax increase is written into the RFA plan!

The RFA plan raises the authorized levy rate to $1.00 per $1,000 of Assessed Valuation in 2026. Today that rate is $0.70 per $1,000 AV. This is a 43% increase!

Details

Proponents of the RFA tout a $0.70 levy rate in 2025, however the RFA, should it pass, raises the levy rate to $1.00 in 2026! See the proof below.

The Fire Department did not include this information in the Proposition 1 Ballot measure text they submitted to King County Elections. New legally required language was added by King County Prosecutor’s Office describing the Levy increase to $1.00 in 2026¹:

This proposition would approve the Plan to create the Shoreline Fire Department RFA to provide fire protection and emergency medical services funded by a property tax of $.70 per thousand of assessed value in 2025 (not to exceed $1.00 per thousand in subsequent years) and a six-year fire benefit charge (not to exceed 60% of the operating budget)². The funding would replace the current property tax levies and fire benefit charges collected by the Districts.

The Fire Department Administration and Fire Commissioners wrote the ‘RFA Plan’. They knew about the hidden tax increase but did not disclose this important information.

The increased levy authority is clearly written in the Regional Fire Authority Plan³:

In August of 2024 Northshore Fire District voters authorized an increase of the Levy rate to $.70 per $1,000 AV. Voters certainly did not know the RFA Plan would increase the Levy again in just a few months.

The Advertised Tax Decreases Are Not Real

The Promised Tax Decreases are achieved by spending down $3,000,000 of General and Reserve Funds.

Smaller impact by adjusting the Benefit Charge ‘Factors’

• Shifting more of the tax burden to commercial and multi-family buildings. This can all be done without creating an RFA.

Unrealistic & Optimistic Inflation Estimates

• Fire Operations inflation increase is estimated at 6% per year but tax increases are estimated to be only 1% per year. 
• Who really believes that is sustainable?

There are no real cost savings from merging the NFD and SHFD Boards of Fire Commissioners.

• Eliminating the NFD Board results in a potential savings of  $14,000 - $20,000, however...
• Fire Commissioner Meeting attendance will double, adding $19,000 in commissioner per diem expense⁴.