The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District has been awarded $7.8 million in grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to rehire firefighters laid off in July.
ECCFPD Chief Hugh Henderson said the grants, offered as part of FEMA’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program, were originally declined, but when additional money was located, the ECCFPD request was granted.
The grants would provide $3.9 million per year for two years, enabling the district to staff six stations with three firefighters each. The money can be used for personnel only, and does not solve the district’s money woes, Henderson emphasized.
“This is a short-term fix,” he said. “We still have the long-term funding problem to deal with.”
Henderson said the ECCFPD Board will meet next Wednesday to decide whether to accept the grants. The money comes with significant restrictions: it cannot be used for the additional expenses needed to re-open and maintain closed stations, operate additional engines or pay for overtime. It also requires that additional staffing be maintained for the entire two years at three firefighters per station.
If accepted, the grants would return staffing to 2010 levels: 54 full-time firefighters, 18 per shift. The district now operates with 27 firefighters, nine per shift.
“The grant will provide additional safety to our communities and our firefighting personnel,” ECCFPD Board President Kevin Romick wrote in a press release Friday. “We will be able to provide fire services without the strong impact on neighboring agencies.”
The failure of the Measure S parcel tax in June forced the ECCFPD to close stations in Brentwood, Bethel Island and Knightsen and lay off 15 firefighters on July 1. Response times from the remaining three stations increased by an average of 9 percent to seven minutes, 10 seconds in July districtwide. Bethel Island’s service was impacted the most, times nearly doubling to 10 minutes, 32 seconds.
The station closures also forced a review of aid agreements with nearby agencies. The ECCFPD had already received help covering calls from the county’s Confire district twice as often as it provided aid in return. Since the closures, Confire has assisted only in emergencies in the ECCFPD, and no longer covers empty ECCFPD stations while those units are on a call.
“Since the station closures in July, we have been doing our best to respond to over 18 calls daily and cover 249 square miles of territory,” Henderson wrote in Wednesday’s release. “This grant could increase our resources, reduce our dependence on outside agencies, and most importantly, improve our service to the community.”
The special ECCFPD Board meeting to consider accepting the grants is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Oakley City Council Chambers, 3231 Main St.
Thus far the district has funded these EMS efforts with fire protection funds despite the financial responsibility actually resting with the County EMS administration.
It is time for the district to work seriously with the County Board of Supervisors and the Union to ensure proper levels of reimbursement from the County to the District when the County dispatches our firefighters to their emergency medical situations.
This would serve the interests of the community as well as the firefighters who would be able to bring in the necessary revenue to fund the EMS work they currently perform.
Perhaps this "bridge" grant can help us transition to the proper funding mechanism for these "county" service that we in ECCFPD have been funding with our fire prevention funds.
Remember, the district has not EVER presented an actual long term solution for the revenue/cost issues facing the district. No one should consider this grant to be the long term solution, but we should leverage it to get us to the point where the district can sustain itself at the current level of taxation. Increasing the district's revenue stream by holding the county responsible for their EMS costs (and therefor accountable for their EMS dispatching decisions) will bring revenues in line with expenses.
My thoughts,
Do not allow the union to believe this relieves them from serious pension and benefit reform, do not allow the union to procrastinate on the resolution of this critical problem. In fact, I would sit down with the union and tell them the money will not be taken until after contract negations and reforms are finished to the satisfaction of the Board. This should send the message of how serious it is for the union to be a partner in the entire success of the district. It also puts the issue on a time frame or the money will be lost.
Does this grant have any interest to be paid back or any clauses that state the firefighters hired would get preferential guarantees of a future permanent position?
How soon will the money be available?
In what form will the funds be supplied ? All at once ? As needed? Reimbursed?
Is there any form of collateral that is required to get these funds?
Are the funds have specific restrictions that if used will create the District to match ? If the funds need matching will it burden the district budget ?
Where will the funds be used ? ( I would think to re-open stations ) Would there be any advantage to the district to apply the funds to benefit the district instead of pacify the public ?
Are there any penalties to accepting the funds yet not completing its restrictions ? If so, what ?
The real unfounded liability is the areas that require fire service but do not generate enough revenue to support it. That is the real problem and that is where reform has to take place.
Considering that I work for THE LOWEST PAID FIRE DISTRICT in the entire county I take offense to those of you that seem to think that it's my lavish salary and benefits package that are to blame. We get paid well below industry and YOU PEOPLE have absolutely no idea what it is that we endure in the service of this community.
It is the union and politicos that have created what you just commented on…..
“The real unfounded liability is the areas that require fire service but do not generate enough revenue to support it. That is the real problem and that is where reform has to take place”.
So tell me your humble, where do you plan to get $29,000,000.00 million dollars that you and the other lowest paid firefighters made into a debt this past ten years?
You obviously have no clue about what you do make. Because you can't see it on your check doesn't mean you do not make it. Here is your sign… It would be so nice to pay you twice the amount on your check and you take care of the medical, dental, paid leave, sick leave, uniform allowance, retire at 50, spiking, insurance modification, vacation, etc. but the union will not allow it. Notice I didn’t even speak of overtime? That’s because overtime is really not the problem. Your wage is not the problem. Your pension and benefits are the problem because the district does not pay into the full costs annually, they only pay a portion and delay the rest until some future date. This is where your union is failing you and the Con Fire firefighters too. They (confire) are only $129,000,000 million behind. It’s not their salary either, it’s the pensions. I now read that the BOS sold bonds at 4.5% interest plus to make payments to this - $129,000,000.00 debt fund that gets 1.25% percent back.
Humble, you stick to your hose because you are way out of line thinking you are underpaid in any way. Have your union change your total compensation to straight pay and you will see that you make well over six figures plus. It’s sad that you do not understand the simple math of it.
I'm sure those in Stockton, San Jose, Riverside, Vacaville, and other future entities that ignore this problem will find out the hard way.
Fix the debt you have created, then we can talk about giving you more money. That’s what I’m talking about, not your net pay.
Don't forget to respond where you are getting that $29,000,000.00 million that ECCFPD is in debt now and owes, I can't wait to hear what money tree that will fall from. Your union and the BOS should have never ever allowed this to get so far out of control. Each person ( man, woman, and children) in this county already owes on just the fire pensions olone over $ 4,000.00 on top of what we already pay in taxes. That’s the debt you, your union, and your BOS have made for your children and my children. They charged me and my family each four thousand dollars more without my consent. Now they want me and others who are already having a financial hard time to make it up. They put the cart before the horse because of politics. They should be ashamed for overspending our taxes and knowing it.
Believe me Humble, you have not seen anything yet on this issue. Pay attention Humble; watch the legislature along with the potential bankrupt cities and counties back pedal on the poor decisions they made. Those are your people to blame, Those are why there were and are layoffs, not because of the hard working tax payers.
Not all Unions are bad. In fact, there are many that are fantastic. I pay into three of them and send checks to another four on a regular basis. The difference is they are not public unions and have to " Pay As You Go ", not charge away our childrens future.
Not everything in your pension is fully funded. You have a defined benefit plan: it is impossible to know how much the payouts will be because there is no way to know how long you will live. Actuaries can come up with the numbers, and they actually may be able to do so accurately. But do I believe they do? No, until I see otherwise I have to assume pressure is put to bear that minimizes your life expectency for the purposes of calculating the ultimate payout. Do you see this number on your worksheet? You would have to in order to evaluate whether or not it is actually fully funded.
But the larger (and more obvious) issue is the anticipated rate of return for the money that sits in the pension fund is greatly overstated. No one can get the return they have estimated and they know it. Seriously, how do you think the huge unfunded liability was created if not by these accounting jokes that were played on the public by the politicians and union bosses? Oh yeah, you don't believe huge unfunded pension liabilities exist….
And John and Kris don't think YOU are the person BK'ng the system. They think (as do I) that all of the unfunded liabilities are BK'ng the system. As for your belief that it is all budgeted and paid for, well there is no reason for you to believe that if you follow the news and review the budget of ConFire and East County Fire. Ask your chief if there is any unfunded pension liability at ECCFPD. Ask Mr. Wells. They don't deny it. Honestly, I think you know better.
I, for one, do not begrudge the salary you are paid. In fact, I think it should probably be higher, but it all (including the pensions) must be paid as it is earned just like in the real world.
But the even bigger issue, in my opinion, is that we are trying to pay you with funds that were calculated based on fire protection services. That amount of money is not enough to also pay you for the essential emergency medical services that you provide. We need the County to step up and provide the necessary revenue source for those activities. It is the county's responsibility to fund EMS. It is not the fire distirct's responsibility to fund EMS.
You guys (Local 1239) should continue to provide the same exceptional level of EMS, but the county should provide the district with reimbursement for the services that you provide. That would allow the district to not only pay down the unfunded pension liability (yes, it does exist), but also to hire more firefighters.
Finally, I think you should put the "YOU PEOPLE..." aside. It doesn't paint you as "humble" and we know you aren't a peasant. You are a hardworking guy who puts his life on the line for the service of victims (fire, injury, medical, etc...) That's an awesome thing...And we really do appreciate what you do.
Run for Governor. You have my vote!
Seems that everyone was sold a bill of goods back in 1999.....not anything that any of us currently holding the bag had anything to do with. The need for reform is apparent and needs to be accomplished within reasonable means. This needs to be done within the confines of what is actually going to be fiscally possible while still striking a balance with the need to compensate those that are currently working as well as those that will come in later. It needs to be done with transparency and common sense for a change.
I guess from where I stand as naive as it may be I have the expectation that people that have the responsibility for signing off on these issues would have used something more like sound judgement. It's incredibly dissappointing.