The Enumclaw Fire Department and King County Fire District #28 are governed by a large multi-jurisdictional body consisting of The City of Enumclaw, a three member elected board of fire commissioners, and an additional two member oversite committee.
The annexation will greatly improve the function of The Fire Department by reducing the number of people involved. This will be a time saving measure and will also relieve The City of a department it is currently having difficulty funding. Annexation will also allow The Fire District to focus on a cost effective level of service to all the citizens in The City and The District.
Historically, many of our neighboring cities have already taken advantage of annexing to their respective Fire Districts. The cities of Maple Valley, Sumner, Puyallup and Orting have already chosen annexation, resulting in cost savings and more effective administration and operations.
State laws currently have more favorable taxing advantages for Fire Districts than for City Governments. In these difficult economic times, annexation would benefit The City of Enumclaw by eliminating their accountability to the Fire Department.
Statement submitted by: Larry Jensen (360-825-5332), Rick Cardoza (360-825-0169) and Lane Weathers
