Two years ago Contra Costa County, along with the cities of Brentwood and Oakley, agreed to form a new governing board for the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD). The local, nine-member board would replace the five county supervisors who have been calling the shots in the district since its formation seven years ago. Unfortunately, Oakley City Council members pulled out of the plan a year and a half ago due to a dispute with county officials over land transfers that had nothing to do with fire protection.
With the plan for the new board shot down in flames, Oakley and Brentwood officials sought to annex into the better-funded Contra Costa Fire Protection District. That district turned thumbs down on the request, however, pointing out that far East County is underfunded for the amount of service required.
So, after two years with nothing to show for it, Oakley council members have finally agreed to join with Brentwood and the county in forming the new governing board. It’s hard to say whether any lives or structures that might otherwise have been saved with standardized fire protection were lost in the meantime, but we congratulate local officials for stepping up to the plate to deal with this difficult, but vital, issue.
When it is formed early next year, the board – comprised of four members from Brentwood, three from Oakley and two from unincorporated far East County – will need to figure out how to beef up fire protection in this area while not burning too large of a hole in local wallets.
ECCFPD has been underfunded because just over half of local property taxes go toward the fire district in comparison with other areas of the county. As a result, the district has been dipping into its reserve fund to the tune of $2 million per year the past couple of years in order to keep a minimum of two firefighters in each of the district’s eight stations, along with three firefighters at the Oakley station and one of the two Brentwood stations.
Job 1 will be figuring out how to apply a tourniquet to stop the fiscal hemorrhaging while continuing to provide at least the current level of fire protection in a 250-square-mile area containing about 100,000 people. The bigger job will be determining how to beef up fire protection, preferably to the standard of three firefighters on duty around the clock at each station. That could cost an extra $5 million per year, possibly resulting in an annual property tax hike of $200-$250 per residence.
Needless to say, it would be a tall order to get far East County residents to agree to increase their taxes by that amount after two years of the Great Recession in which nearly everyone has been forced to cut back on expenses just to get by. It will require creativity, perhaps thinking outside the fire engine box, such as increased privatization of medical and rescue personnel, relocation of fire stations to urban areas, returning to trained volunteers and increasing the number of reserve firefighters while reducing full-time firefighters.
It won’t be easy. We believe the initial appointments to the new fire board should be taken from city councils and elected municipal advisory committees to provide some ballot-box weight and responsiveness to the process of charting the district’s course, and that a move to a directly elected fire board should then follow. With the backing of the voters, the board members would be better enabled to make the hard decisions, including the possibility of placing a tax measure on the ballot. The good news is that far East County fire protection is finally on the right track, and local people will soon be driving the train.
So, the county will give the problem away that they created and let it fall on the backs of the citizens who already pay the same tax as everyone else in the county.
If a new district apart from the county is formed.
LAFCO, The County, and the New District Commission should force the tax transfer to be adequate for an acceptable standard of fire service and nothing short of that.
There should be no reason to ask for more taxes.
The Public is Taxed Out !
These CFD taxes are paid by property owners and a previous City Council adopted these taxes to pay for a third firefighter. It was used for this purpose up until three members of the current City Council decided to use that money to build a white elephant in the middle of the community's historic park.
What's next on the "Tax and Spend" Council's agenda?
The link below is from the Legislative Anslyst's Office explaining how the fire departments budget got the way it is.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/1996/082196_prop_taxes/property_tax_differences_pb82196.html
Looks like Richey and Stonebarger were right all along!
the previous comment has merit. We pay taxes over taxes for everything we do. What is really going on here is that the County now is washing it's hands of the problem ( after 10 years ) and dumping it on its communities without proper mitigation. Because the County incorrectly distributed the prop 13 taxes leaving some services like fire with less percentage of tax draw and other services with more percentage of a tax draw, the result is unequal tax distribution as compared to other areas of the county. Instead of internally correcting the problem at the county level by increasing the funding to match other District percentages like Con Fire, they have talked the local leaders into accepting the underfunded district. This leaves very few choices for this new commission. They will truly have their work cut out for them. Just as the new City of Oakley had to negotiate it's tax base exchange with the county when incorporating, so should this new fire district. Before it is officially through LAFCO, the commission should negotiate more funds from the county to transform into an official independent district. If not, the result will remain the same underfunded, under staffed fire agency that has plagued it for years unless it raises your taxes by about $250. per home. Pay attention people , we are entitled to adequate fire protection like every other fire agency in this county without having to supplement the base tax rate. In addition, the firefighters should also be entitled to have a third firefighter to provide a safer working environment.
We're already paying taxes for a third firefighter, it's called CFD taxes. But instead, the City is using these CFD taxes to build the Civic Center. Now they want to tax us a second time to pay for the third firefighter.
If we allow them to pull the wool over our eyes on this one, then we're all fools.