Two measures will be on the ballot for the April 22 special election that will affect Renton residents.

All King County voters can vote for a Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification System Levy, while Renton voters can specifically decide on annexation of Fire District No. 40 into the Renton Regional Fire Authority.

AFIS Levy

The Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) Levy is for all of King County. The proposition would fund the continued operation of the AFIS system to provide enhanced forensic fingerprint and palmprint technology along with services to aid in the administration of justice.

The levy would authorize an additional property tax for seven years, beginning in 2026, at 2.75 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This is down from the 2018 AFIS levy, which adopted a rate of 3.501 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

According to the ordinance, King County voters first approved the funding of an AFIS computer in 1986 to match unknown fingerprints to known fingerprints. The King County AFIS database now holds more than 2 million fingerprint records, more than one million palmprint records, and approximately 63,000 crime scene prints from unsolved records. The service is available to every city and unincorporated area in King County.

The AFIS computer is used to quickly identify arrested individuals to prevent the wrongful release of individuals using false names to evade arrest or hide records, and to search fingerprints and palmprints collected from crime scenes to identify unknown suspects and aid in convictions.

The first AFIS computer was installed in 1988. The latest system upgrade was in 2018 to a cloud-based system, which is continually updated to ensure the county is using the latest fingerprint matching technology, according to the county.

Fire district annexation

The second item up for vote is the annexation of King County Fire Protection District No. 40 into the Renton Regional Fire Authority.

Municipal attorney Eric Quinn said the annexation will allow the fire authority to draw property into its boundaries, making the added property subject to the taxes and other financial measures of the Renton Regional Fire Authority. The RRFA will then provide services for those properties.

Quinn said the annexation is a way to formalize what has been the “status quo” for many years.

“The Renton Regional Fire Authority has provided services to Fire District 40, by contract, for many years whereby the (RRFA) engines and (RRFA) personnel are the ones that are actually responding in the district,” Quinn said.

Quinn said the two agencies have been in the “dating phase,” and the annexation is the formal process of bringing the two together, eliminating the need for a contract.

Quinn said the annexation would help streamline government by eliminating the need to approve payment vouchers to pay the RRFA, and by reducing the number of fire commissioners needed from five to three.

“There’s really no reason for the fire district to manage its own finances and property if it doesn’t have finances to manage any longer,” Quinn said. “The management responsibility all goes to RRFA.”

Quinn said the annexation would also provide the voters of District 40 a bigger voice in the operation of their fire service provider. He said there is currently not a District 40 commissioner who serves on the RRFA board in a voting capacity.

“If we annex, then we now have two fire district commissioners that are voting members of the RRFA board, giving the District 40 citizens a lot more of a voice in what the fire department is actually doing,” Quinn said.

King County voting centers open for the special election on April 2, and the ballot drop boxes open on April 3. Deadline to register to vote or update your registration is on April 14.