Could Tacoma's potential rejection of Prop 1 lead to cuts in fire department staffing?

TACOMA, Wash. — There’s a concern in Tacoma that emergency responses from the fire department could suffer in light of Tuesday’s election.

"Honestly, it’s one of the biggest concerns right now," Josie Arredondo told KOMO News, on her way into the Stadium Thriftway for some groceries.

Not all ballots have been counted, but voters so far are rejecting Proposition 1, which could have helped provide much-needed resources and upgrades for the Tacoma Fire Department (TFD).

The situation is serious enough right now that the city council held a work session Friday morning to discuss options for maintaining fire service without the levy.

"Hopefully our taxes don’t go up anymore because we’re getting killed. Hoping for a different kind of solution," said Andy Reiff, who lives and works in Tacoma.

City manager Elizabeth Paul told council members and Mayor Victoria Woodards that they passed a budget without expecting any money from this levy. Still, there are several things left out of that budget:

• Police overtime, projected at $3-5M
• Fleet replacement, projected at $1.2M
• Temporary shelter, projected at $6M per 12 month period

The levy would have added $30 million a year;

• $10M for existing expenses
• $20M for new expenditures

In this budget, Interim Fire Chief Sionna Stallings-Alailima said they were asked to cut $4 million from their budget, so now, the only thing left to cut is personnel.

Short-staffed, during paid time off, the department had been filling those shifts with its rover program, but she said they’ve chosen to eliminate those 16 rovers instead of cutting permanent staff.

To fill that gap, she told the council that they are working on some strategic staffing solutions to cover all shifts. She said they will start putting those strategies into play and will know by mid-year of this budget cycle if it is working or not.

“If we are not effective in bridging the gap in our staffing gap in the general fund, you will see me back here, and we will be talking about permanent service reductions at that point,” said Chief Stallings-Alailima.

Paul added that the city did not use rover positions before this year and had managed that coverage instead, with overtime.

“We’ve been here before, and it was managed through OT, and the chief will still be managing it by watching OT she's just going to have some different approaches to try to keep overtime within the budget allotment of OT,” explained Paul.

RELATED: Tacoma voters approving property tax increase to fund EMS

Beyond the cost of overtime, a real concern is a reduction in service. This is where Woodards wanted to clarify.

“I want to be clear to the public that's listening that we are not talking about a decrease in service,” she said directly to the chief.

“We do have a structural staffing gap in the general fund. That’s why, with the 16 rovers, we are already $3.54 million over that budget this year. So we will be working to increase that, figuring how not to reduce service levels,” said Chief Stallings-Alailima.

She did reiterate that their moves will be purposeful and calculated to control overtime and staff as much as possible.

“And if at the point we see a decrease in service, that will risk the lives of our residents, you'll be the first one coming back to us saying we cannot do this,” said Mayor Woodards. Fire spokesperson Chelsea Shepherd told KOMO News that this is the first levy that fire asked for in 17 years.

That last levy paid for three new engines, which were ordered in 2023, but due to manufacturing backlogs, those engines are not expected to arrive until early 2025.

"I am all for Tacoma to see if Tacoma gives them all that they need because they’re there when we need them the most," said Loe Pena.

As a coach and trainer, Pen told KOMO News he works with and is friends with a number of firefighters in Tacoma.

"From what they tell me about their situation at their stations and how old the stations are like it’s not a nice place," Pena said

This work session did not include any action, but the council may take action at its meeting on Nov. 19.