After nearly two years of discussion, the Renton City Council this week is expected to pass a measure placing on the April ballot the choice of whether to switch fire service from a city-based model to a Regional Fire Authority.

The council this month approved the “Renton Regional Fire Authority” plan as presented during a committee of the whole meeting. Now it will be up to the voters.

The idea behind the transition to a Regional Fire Authority, which would take the department off of city books and give the fire services the ability to create their own revenue stream, began following the council’s annual retreat in February 2014.

Facing rising costs and a cap on revenues that does not meet those costs, the city is hoping an authority will help free up money in the budget, though it would mean a loosening of city control over the department and operations.

A regional fire authority is a special-purpose tax district created by voters that combines at least two existing fire districts into a single entity. In Renton’s case, the authority would be a combination of Renton Fire Department and King County Fire District No. 25, which presently contracts with Renton for service.

According to Fire Chief Mark Peterson, who presented the completed plan to the council on Nov. 23, Fire Districts 20 and 40 were also invited to join but declined.

In total, the new district would serve a population of 128,000 spread over 33.5 square miles. It wold have a total of seven stations and 190 employees.

Peterson said demand for services are increasing at a rate of about 3 percent each year and that planning documents show an expected increase in population for the area of about 40,000 by 2035, meaning even more calls for service. Peterson also said the fire department has determined that a new station is needed in the Kennydale area and nine additional employees to staff an aid unit in the south end are needed, both of which would be covered with passage of the RFA.

The new RFA would be governed by a six-member board consisting of three elected officials from each jurisdiction.

The biggest change, if it’s approved by voters, would be the funding mechanism for the RFA. Currently, resident pay for fire service as part of their property taxes, estimated at about $1.61 per $1,000 assessed value.

Under the RFA model, the authority would levy a property tax of up to $1 per assessed value and assess a “Fire Benefit Charge” that can count for up to 60 percent of the operating budget.

Instead of property value, a fire benefit charge bases the cost on the size of the structure, with credits given for alarm systems and sprinklers and other fire -suppression methods.

“The bigger the structure, the more hazard the structure presents, then the fire benefit charge is assessed accordingly,” Peterson told the council. “The greater the risk, the more you have to put toward (firefighting).”

According to city finance director Iwen Wang, the city will reduce its property tax by the amount they anticipate to save after the first year (about $0.41 per $1,000 assessed value). Wang said the reason for the delay in reducing the tax would be to fund construction of the construction and equipment for the proposed Kennydale station.

There is also the additional staff and a small increase in fire prevention staff that was cut during the recession.

But Wang admits the RRFA “will cost more.”

“Most of the businesses , as well as most residents, will pay more,” she told the council.

No exact amounts were available, which Councilman Don Persson said would be needed by the public to make a decision, especially since he said he has heard concerns from businesses in Kent that their business taxes “quadrupled” after the city adopted an RFA.

“I want to know what it’s going to cost me and my neighbors,” he said, though he said he recognizes the “tremendous need” for something like this.

Councilman Randy Corman also said he understands the need for a new funding stream in the face of Tim Eyman’s 1 percent initiative, which limits a city revenue increase no matter what the increase in expenditures and has decimated the budgets of cities all over the state. However, he said he was concerned about sending it to voters after a similar decision on the library led to misunderstandings and protracted fight in the city.

“After the experience with KCLS, it’s going to be really important to me we have excellent data,” he said.

Council President Ed Prince echoed Corman’s views on funding for the fire department and said he is worried about a degradation in response time without additional funding in the future, though he felt voters should have the say on this matter and urged them to look at all of the options before making a decision.

“This is not an additional tax for the sake of an additional tax,” he said. “My biggest concern is being able to continue to fund fire service.”

The City Council is expected to vote on Monday to place the Regional Fire Authority on the ballot in April.