As measured by call volume, the number of requests that come into the Valley Regional Fire Authority every year are estimated to rise to about 19,000 per year, or 20 percent higher than today, by 2040.

As VRFA chief financial officer Mark Horaski and Deputy Chief Tim Day informed the Auburn City Council at a recent study session, the upshot of that increase is that the agency must adjust its fire impact fee schedule, which determines what its customers in the cities of Auburn, Pacific and Algona will pay going forward for fire services.

“It’s been a long time since this was done and we felt compelled to do it,” Day said.

As authorized by state law, fire impact fees aim to capture costs associated with the additional demands that growth places on future firefighting and the agencies that do it.

While today the VRFA owns four stations, eight engines, five aid cars, two ladders and three miscellaneous pieces of equipment, it will need to add to its inventory in the future. Projections show it will need two new engines, three aid cars, a new brush truck and one additional fire station. To that, add the cost associated with renovating or replacing two existing fire stations and headquarters, a logistic and maintenance facility, and new training grounds.

All of that will have to paid for in part with impact fees.

In 2024, at the direction of the VRFA’s board, staff and a consultant completed a top-to-bottom review of the agency’s fire impact fee schedule. To get it done, the reviewers and a hired consultant pored over all state laws that apply to impact fees.

The review covered changes the state Legislature made to fire impact fees in 2023, revising how fire impact fees were to be collected for houses and apartments. Where the two were once separate categories, now they’re lumped together as residential units. This matters, Day said, because fees will henceforth be calculated to produce a lower impact fee for smaller housing.

“The prior model was simply per door and the smaller house got charged the same as the big house, Now it’s based more on square footage, which I think helps offset the initial impact of increasing costs for affordable housing, by making it more proportional,” Day said.

Lawmakers also changed the language regarding the fees for accessory dwelling units, mandating that the fees for ADUs be no more than 50 percent of the impact fee for the main unit.