TACOMA, Washington — There is concern in Tacoma that fire department emergency response may suffer in light of Tuesday’s election.

“Honestly, it’s one of the biggest concerns right now,” Josie Arredondo told KOMO News as she headed to the Stadium Thriftway to run some errands.

Not all ballots have been counted, but voters have so far rejected Proposition 1which could have helped provide much-needed resources and upgrades to 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 continuing fire services without a levy.

“I hope our taxes don’t go up anymore because we’re getting killed. Hoping for a different type 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 money from the levy. However, several elements are excluded from this budget:

• Police overtime, estimated at $3 million to $5 million
• Fleet replacement, planned at $1.2 million
• Temporary shelters, projected at $6 million per 12-month period

The levy would have added $30 million a year;

• $10 million for existing expenses
• $20 million for new spending

In that budget, Interim Fire Chief Sionna Stallings-Alailima said they were asked to cut $4 million from their budget. Now the only thing left to reduce is staff.

Understaffed and on paid leave, the department filled those shifts with its rover program, but she said it chose to eliminate those 16 rovers instead of cutting permanent staff.

To address this gap, she told the board they are working on strategic staffing solutions to cover all shifts. She said they will start implementing these strategies and will know by the middle of the year of this budget cycle whether it is working or not.

“If we can’t close the staffing gap in the general fund, you’ll see me back here, and then we’ll talk about permanent service reductions,” Chief Stallings-Alailima said.

Paul added that the city had not used rover stations before this year and instead managed that coverage, with overtime.

“We’ve been here before, and this was managed by OT, and the chief will continue to manage this by monitoring OT. She’ll just have different approaches to trying to keep overtime within OT’s budget,” he said. explained Paul.

RELATED: Tacoma voters approve property tax increase to fund EMS

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

“I want to make it clear to the public listening that we are not talking about a decrease in service,” she told the chief directly.

“We do indeed have a structural staff deficit within the general fund. This is why, with the 16 rovers, we have already exceeded this budget by $3.54 million this year. So we’re going to work to increase that number, thinking about ways to not reduce service levels,” said Chief Stallings-Alailima.

She reiterated that their measures will be targeted and calculated to control overtime and staffing as much as possible.

“And if at any point we see a decrease in service, which risks the lives of our residents, you will be the first to tell us we can’t do that,” Mayor Woodards said. Fire department spokesperson Chelsea Shepherd told KOMO News this is the first sample requested by the fire department in 17 years.

This latest levy helped finance three new engines, which were ordered in 2023, but due to manufacturing delays, these engines are not expected to arrive until early 2025.

“I’m all for Tacoma to see if Tacoma gives them everything they need, because they’re there when we need them the most,” Loe Pena said.

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

“From what they tell me about their location at their stations and the age of the stations, it’s not a nice place to be,” Pena said.

This work session did not result in any action, but the council could decide at its meeting on November 19.