Senate proposes contract with state hospitals and cities

For the last several years, Medical Lake requested state funding for policing and emergency medical services it provides to Eastern State Hospital.

After years of no response, a proposed bill that was introduced in the current legislative session could result in some compensation to the city for those services.

On Jan. 16, the senate held the first reading of Senate Bill 5159. The bill, introduced by senators Michael Baumgartner, Steve O’Ban and Steve Conway, would add chapters to the Revised Code of Washington requiring Western and Eastern state hospitals to contract with the cities where they are located in to compensate those municipalities for providing public safety services. In this case, Eastern State Hospital would make a contract with Medical Lake.

According to the bill’s draft, cities would receive 9 cents per square foot of the respective state hospital’s beginning in the 2017-19 biennium. In each subsequent biennium, facilities can make adjustments for any changes in square footage.

Medical Lake City Administrator Doug Ross estimates the city would receive over $100,000 per biennium if the bill is passed.

While Ross recognizes that the bill attempts to compensate the cities, he noted that there is language in the document that the city of Lakewood, which provides public safety services to Western State Hospital, would receive no less than $621,279 per biennium in compensation.

“We’ve always been after compensation for policing services and this is more than we’ve ever gotten,” Ross said. “But there’s still not an explanation in the discrepancy between what we’re getting and what Lakewood is getting.”

In the last couple of years, the city has sent numerous letters to state legislators and members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, asking them to discuss the costs incurred by the city for providing public safety services to the hospital, as well as the line item in the state budget that provides Lakewood and its police department with funds for emergency services at Western State Hospital.

In 2014, Ross and Mayor John Higgins spoke with local officials and were informed that state funding for police services at Western does not set a statewide standard. There is also nothing in the RCW requiring the state to pay cities for public safety services to facilities.

Another concern Ross has regarding the proposed bill is officials will look at it and “relax,” thinking it solves Medical Lake’s request for state funding.

“This puts us in a difficult position, we’re thankful for anything, but there’s still that huge discrepancy in numbers (between Medical Lake and Lakewood),” Ross said.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.