Tacoma Fire budget crisis shows sorry state of US pandemic relief. Fix this, Congress

COVID-19 has upended countless lives this year and killed an estimated 1.4 million people around the world. It also unleashed all kinds of chaos across America, from panic selling on Wall Street to panic buying on the toilet paper aisle.

Now Pierce County officials are propelled by a different kind of panic as they run down the homestretch of 2020: They need to finish spending tens of millions in federal pandemic-relief funds before the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31.

If they don’t, then poof! The unspent money may vanish like Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage — barring an act of Congress or creative bookkeeping by the county finance department.

Under a new proposal, some of that money — up to $4.2 million — would be awarded to Tacoma to prevent it from having to shut down a fire engine unit.

It’s a reasonable plan to ensure first responders keep answering the bell in Tacoma and around the South Sound. But it’s also an example of eleventh-hour, seat-of-the-pants local budgeting made necessary by the abysmal failure of Congress and the Trump administration to come to terms on a new pandemic-aid package.

The public health nightmare and economic pain caused by COVID-19 won’t suddenly disappear in 2021. The assurance of federal help shouldn’t, either.

Local governments have had to turn their normal end-of-year budget process upside down. They don’t know if the feds will come through with more aid, when it might arrive, how much it will be and with what strings attached.

To avert essential services from being slashed next year, they’re also having to blur the lines that normally separate city and county government spending.

County officials voting to bail out a municipal fire department? You don’t see that every day. But there’s federal CARES Act money to spare, so the County Council may give some to Tacoma. They discussed it last week and are scheduled to vote on it Dec. 8.

Make no mistake, Tacoma Fire Department provides life-saving services that reach well beyond city limits. TFD engines are routinely called as co-responders to Midland, Parkland, Spanaway, Browns Point, Ruston and other communities. In times of disaster, such as the Sumner Grade wildfire in September, TFD crews are in the thick of it.

County officials don’t dispute any of this. But some question whether Tacoma should get millions in CARES funding at a time when bills keep piling up for countywide pandemic services, such as virus testing and contact tracing, emergency rental assistance and food banks.

Expenses are rising as this third wave of COVID-19 tightens its grip on Pierce County. Testing is on track to double, from 11,000 administered in October to more than 20,000 so far this month.

“We have to shore up our budget before we start divvying it up to others,” council member Dave Morrell, R-South Hill, said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Department heads are overdue to give spending updates. County Executive Bruce Dammeier needs to ensure accurate financial projections are shared by early December, so the County Council isn’t shooting in the dark.

But Council member Derek Young, lead sponsor of the Tacoma fire proposal, said it’s already clear that as much as $80 million remains unspent and is at risk of going back to the feds at the end of 2020. Pierce County elected leaders were given caretaker responsibility for $158 million in CARES funding this year.

“If Tacoma is forced to decimate their government in order to fund their fire department, that would be a terrible decision on our part,” Young, D-Gig Harbor, told us.

As TNT staff writer Allison Needles reported, Tacoma Fire Department was bracing for $12 million in cuts next year, which could have equated to 45 layoffs and the loss of three engines. The City Council softened the blow Tuesday by passing a budget that trims the loss to one engine and avoids layoffs — but adds $4 million to future budget shortfalls. Tacoma is currently staring at a projected total deficit of $24 million in 2023-24.

It shouldn’t have come to this. American cities, counties and state governments are floundering in red ink, trying to preserve basic services and help people knocked flat by the pandemic while sales tax revenues plunge.

Pierce County leaders can only play the hand they’re dealt, and that should include sharing what’s left in the CARES Act pot

But after months of election-year posturing and paralysis, Congress and President-elect Joe Biden must end this mess. They must waste no time finding compromise and approving pandemic-relief package 2.0.

If done right, it will give more flexibility to local governments, eliminate the need for future budget gimmickry and remove panic from the equation in 2021.

This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 7:00 AM.