City says EFR double-charged
July 2, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
New: July 2, 11:32 a.m.
City officials say Eastside Fire and Rescue has been charging people extra for fire code inspection fees.
Sammamish’s Finance Director Lyman Howard said his department discovered the glitch while reexamining the city’s building permit fee process, which he said is in need of overhaul.
For nearly as long as the city has been a city, property owners in Sammamish have been paying the city for general fire protection service. In addition, property owners seeking building permits had to pay separate fees for specific fire code inspections, such as verifying that a single-family home has a working sprinkler system.
But Sammamish’s Administrative Services Director Mike Sauerwein said such inspections should already be covered through the city’s annual contribution to EFR.
EFR is a regional fire agency that shares resources and provides fire protection service for Sammamish, North Bend, Issaquah, Carnation and parts of unincorporated King County.
Dating as far back as the city’s first agreement with EFR in 2001, the city has understood that fire code inspections related to new building permits were paid for through the city’s overall cost of fire service each year, Sauerwein said. For 2009, the city paid EFR $5.3 million.
“It was really just a miscommunication between the city and the fire district,” Sauerwein said, adding that he thought it was “an honest mistake.”
EFR Finance Chief Dave Gray said the fee collection is correct. According to Gray, the general partner contributions are separate from fees EFR collects during the building permit process.
If Sammamish wanted the fees included in the overall contribution, the cost of general fire services would go up, he said.
In support of the city’s claim that no one should be paying extra for fire code inspections, Sauerwein points to the 2007 agreement. It says that EFR would provide fire code inspection and enforcement, fire code pre-construction building plan review and fire investigation.
The agreement could be open to interpretation. It refers to those services as “additional services” and does not specify whether they would be covered under the payment for “general fire services.” It also does not explicitly address what “additional services” means.
EFR performs annual maintenance inspections for businesses at no charge, according to Assistant Fire Marshal Mark Lawrence. It does charge for inspecting fire extinguishers and fire suppression systems at local businesses. It also charges for the fire plan review and inspections related to new construction, he said. The fire marshals only handle inspections in cities within EFR’s coverage zone, Lawrence said.
Fire Chief Lee Soptich said he was aware of the issue, but did not know how it would be resolved.
“We’ve not had the discussion with the board yet,” Soptich said.
The topic will be vetted by an EFR finance and operations subcommittee, and then discussed at an EFR board of directors meeting, he said.
Soptich added that each partner in EFR deals with fire code inspections and enforcements differently, which may have led to the confusion in Sammamish’s case.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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