Lake Stevens alerted to possible funding shortfall with Snohomish County emergency management interlocal agreement

At a Lake Stevens City Council workshop, city staff alerted council that Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management (DEM), a city ILA partner, may lose key federal grant funding that has historically financed part of DEM's staffing.

City staff member Max said DEM director Lucia Schmidt informed member cities that a federal Emergency Management Performance Grant that has financed "some 5 full time employee hours" for member jurisdictions may not be available past September 2025. Max told council the county has funding to maintain current staffing through December 2025 but that if the federal grant is not renewed, DEM will need to choose among several options.

Options described to council: - Increase member rates: to maintain current service levels, DEM would need to raise member contributions by about 33 percent; for Lake Stevens that would mean roughly an additional $19,000 annually on top of the city's current $59,000 contribution. Max presented that figure as an illustration of the cost to preserve existing services. - Reduce services: DEM could reduce supplemental planning support (examples noted were hazard-mitigation annexes, volunteer-management annexes, mitigation planning) and scale back non-emergency outreach. - Combination: a mix of increased member rates and reduced services.

Max said the advisory board for DEM will meet on Thursday and the mayor will attend; staff expected more clarity after that meeting. When council asked whether the grant is federal or state, staff confirmed it is a federal grant (Emergency Management Performance Grant). The mayor commented that the grant uncertainty appears tied to broader county-state-federal disputes and said he will raise equity concerns at the advisory-board discussion.

Tangible program impacts identified by staff: Max emphasized that the county manages several multi-jurisdictional plans and annexes that cities rely on, including a hazard-mitigation plan that historically has included jurisdictional annexes. He said hazard-mitigation annexes are an eligibility requirement for many FEMA grants, and that reduced DEM planning capacity could jeopardize the city's ability to prepare or renew those annexes in time.

Council procedure note: a council decision would be required if Lake Stevens were to leave the ILA, staff said; the mayor will represent the city at the upcoming advisory-board meeting.

Bottom line: staff framed the situation as an interlocal funding risk that will require council consideration once the advisory board and DEM provide more information. In the near term, staff asked council to be aware of the potential funding gap and of the options DEM may present.