Renton voters are approving the annexation of Fire District No. 40 into the Renton Regional Fire Authority, according to early results for the April 22 special election.

Voters are approving Proposition No. 1 by 80.96% (2,016), according to King County Elections.

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.