Outlying County Areas May Lose Fire Services

Dozens of people had the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors seeing red, as they showed up in red fire hats to protest cuts to fire service in remote areas, or a new state fee of $150 a year to support services in such places as Bonny Doon, Davenport, Corallitos and the Summit.

“We ask that you improve our situation, and we will rise up in masses to support you,” said Walt Brown, who owns a home on the Summit and said that proposed cuts or fees would decrease property values.

The Board Of Supervisors met Tuesday to figure out how to make up a $590,000 shortfall in the fire department's budget for 2013-2014.

The state legislature has passed a $150 State Responsibility Area (SRA) fee to be paid by property owners in areas not covered by city fire departments. Public support is low for this proposal according to the report by County General Services. With a contract due by June 30, 2012 Santa Cruz-San Mateo County Fire Chief John Ferreira presented the series of cuts that could bypass the need for the fee.

These options include reducing winter firefighter staff from 20 to 16 and eliminating one of the five stations serving far-reaching areas of the counties, which would save about $410,000 per year. He also said $100,000 could be saved by eliminating a program that keeps track of new addresses in those service areas,where slowed building has reduced the need for the service.

The state has cut Cal Fire's budget for several years. So far the decreases have resulted in reducing, among other things, the number of air bases where fire planes can be based. Other deficits at the county level have been solved with reserve funds, but those are projected to run out in a little over a year.

“Fortunately, so far those cuts have had little impact in this county,” said Ferreira. “I know that the SRA fee is very controversial. Almost all of SC county fire area is [in the state responsibility area] so almost all these areas will [have to pay this fee],” said Ferreira.

Because of the low public support of the SRA fee, County General Services Director Nancy Gordon said her staff is looking into holding a special election to pinpoint the least disruptive solution. The SRA fee was passed as part of Governor Jerry Brown's budget, therefore bypassing the need for a popular vote, which is expected to result in legal challenges from counties throughout the state according to county officials.

In other parts of the country fire departments have refused to put out fires in homes of people who didn't pay such fees, including this recent case in Tennessee.

“Supervisor Leopold mentioned the possibility of a ballot measure in Nov. 2012, so if that happened it would be a ways off,” said Gordon.

She added that there is currently no requirement that all of the funds paid to the state go back to the counties that pay them or to Cal Fire as a whole.

County officials fear that the money could be charged to homeowners and then absorbed into the state general fund as it is currently written, as has happened with transportation funds in recent years.

If the department reduced the number of firefighters from 20 to 16 in the winter months, Ferreira said the same number of firefighters will be on duty every day, but this will make them make the department more reliant on overtime shifts. Supervisor Greg Caput expressed concern about this plan.

“With overtime pay we can save money but we are talking about life and death situations,” said Caput. "That is putting a huge strain on them and increases chances of health claims.”