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The Pro Prop 1 advocates, having produced a result they acknowledge is a difficult "sell" (their language) are now trying to tell the voters that the language of the Plan means nothing. This is the same language the RFA Planning Committee worked so hard on for so long including making an urgent, last minute correction on the night of Council adoption.
Below is an excerpt from the "Yes" on Prop 1 website that shows what they are trying to pull off.
From the the "Yes" on Prop 1 website on 2/14/23
"What’s not being decided?
You may have heard a lot of complicated talk about a Fire Benefit Charge (FBC). An FBC will be a revenue source for the RFA. It’s a steady and reliable revenue source used successfully by fire authorities in Washington State.
The formula that will calculate how much you will pay per square foot is NOT being decided on your ballot in April. If the citizens of Olympia and Tumwater approve the creation of a Regional Fire Authority between the two cities there will be a public process to create a Fire Benefit Charge that is fair and equitable for everyone. And your voice WILL be heard during a public process to sort out the details."
https://www.voteyesfireems.com/about
But that is not correct. The language below, from the adopted Plan, clearly states that they can only adjust the formula AFTER 2024.
Again, don't take our word for it. Here is the opinion of the RFA's own legal advisor, Olympia City Attorney, Mark Barber.
When Mr. Barber was asked by Olympia City Manager Jay Burney whether the FBC formula could be modified should there be a successful challenge to the formula:
October 3, 2022
“Mark, could you weigh in on that question, please?”
[Barber] “It would depend on how the plan is drafted and it's wording. Each year the board has to review. You know, what they may need for the fire benefit charge. The issue is, as Karen Reed had articulated, is that what did the voters approve? And if they approved one method and for some reason that method is found invalid by the courts then that's where the issue becomes much more difficult to ascertain. Because the question then becomes, you know, could the board have the authority to change the formula without a vote of the electorate? And that is questionable. I think they’d have to put it to the electorate and that's a long process, as you know. They have might have other alternatives to try to recover revenue that they lost because the formula, the method of the charge was found invalid. But again, that likewise is going to take some time to have that done, to put that before voters for approval.”
Or just read the law for yourself. This excerpt from the state law about how an RFA is created clearly says that the Plan is what is being voted on and the fire benefit charge is part of the Plan.
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