Fire Authority Weighs Revamp of Services to Cities in O.C.

The Orange County Fire Authority is reviewing proposals to change its operations and to base services partly on a city’s ability to pay, a move that could lead to closing a few stations.

With 13 of 19 cities it covers unable to foot the bill for all the services they receive, the authority is looking at such details as where each paramedic, firefighter or engine company is based and whether all 60 fire stations are needed.

Los Alamitos Mayor Ronald Bates said cities that haven’t been paying their full share are well aware that adjustments are coming. Los Alamitos gets about $950,000 in services but pays about $812,000 a year, according to estimates released in August.

“Many of us realize that we’ll have to pay more of our share, or if cities can’t afford that, to reduce service while still providing basic protection,” Bates said.

“All of us recognize that the chances are good that if we formed our own fire departments, the costs would be significantly higher than staying with the Fire Authority.”

The issue is expected to divide the agency’s board of directors, which consists of a representative from each city plus two county supervisors. The majority of cities must wrestle with whether they could afford to pay more or should forgo some services as a way of saving money. The authority handled about 70,000 calls last year.

The issue is further complicated because some cities pay for fire services from a portion of property taxes while others must look to cash-strapped municipal budgets to come up with the money.

Tustin Councilman Mike Doyle said he’ll fight any attempt by the authority to demand more money. The city pays nearly $3.5 million a year but uses an estimated $4.9 million in services, according to August estimates.

“I have a two-letter answer for them,” he said. “N-o.”

Fire officials insist that no city would be left without adequate services, regardless of the cost. The authority’s directors have said they don’t expect that there ever will be a dollar-for-dollar distribution of fire services for the 1 million residents covered.

But they are concerned that six cities and the county are making up a shortfall of nearly $9 million used to provide services for the other cities.

Continued divisiveness over the issue could jeopardize the future of the agency, Fire Authority Chief Charles “Chip” Prather said. He said the changes facing the authority are akin to “trying to rebuild a 747 in flight through congested airspace.”

“What shakes out at the end of the day, I’m not sure,” he said. “I don’t see it getting to the point, for example, where a city decides to buy an engine with just one person. That would place the community at risk. We might be better served with a consolidation of services that results in a [station] closure.”

A Sacramento consultant recently completed a draft report offering four options for calculating costs for the authority, which was formed in early 1995 from the old Orange County Fire Department.

Fire officials refused to release a copy of the report, which is being revised to refigure some cities’ contributions. But city officials said the options include assigning each city’s share of services based on population, on assessed property values or on the number of calls and the types of fire personnel and equipment used.

The fourth option is to continue the current system, in which services aren’t tied to payments.

The 21-member board must decide in coming weeks which option to recommend when the authority takes up the subject in January.

In San Juan Capistrano, for example, two of the four funding options would put the city in a break-even position. But the other options would leave deficits higher than the $151,000 a year previously estimated, city analyst Kumi Johnson said.

Among the 19 cities, Irvine pays the most by far, contributing about $5 million more per year than it receives in services, according to August estimates. Other donor cities include Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Stanton and Villa Park, as well as county government.

Irvine Councilman Mike Ward, who chairs the authority’s board of directors, said he hasn’t read the latest report and probably won’t until the new board is seated in early January. Five of its council members are leaving office, as will Supervisor William G. Steiner, who is retiring.

“I don’t know that any of us know what the outcome will be until all of the board members see [the report],” Ward said.

Cities in the red range from Los Alamitos’ $137,000 deficit to an estimated $1.4 million annual underpayment by Tustin. Other “deficit” cities are Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Placentia, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Seal Beach, Westminster and Yorba Linda.

Officials are trying to rectify an inequity built into the authority when it was formed three years ago in the wake of Orange County’s bankruptcy. Participants agreed to commit to the authority for three years and then review how much each city was paying into the system.

As of March, the cities and county government fulfilled their three-year commitment and now can leave the authority after giving 12 months’ notice.

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Faced with the potential change in costs, some city officials have talked about starting smaller regional fire departments or creating their own city departments. A study in Irvine showed that a city-owned fire department would cost $14 million a year beyond the tax money that goes to the authority.

The uncertainty over how much cities will pay and for what services comes as the authority is preparing to end its practice of using part-time workers paid for each emergency call to supplement full-time firefighters. Beginning Jan. 1, the authority will use a reserve program that calls for volunteer firefighters to receive a flat stipend for each call.

Authority officials said the change was made because the paid-call program violated federal wage and hours laws. As of this week, 280 of about 500 part-time firefighters had applied for the new reserve program.

The Fire Authority’s unique structure has created other administrative headaches. Among them is an inability to finance long-term growth because cities have an annual renewal option.

Fire Chief Prather said he wants the authority to establish longer-term contracts with the cities and the county to provide more stability in planning.

The authority also wants to build a new headquarters, but it cannot sell bonds for the project unless each of the 19 city councils and the county Board of Supervisors agree.

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Fire Inequities

Irvine pays nearly $5.2 million a year more than it receives in fire services each year, making it by far the biggest “donor” in the Orange County Fire Authority’s coalition of 19 cities and the unincorporated areas. The extra money subsidizes services for other communities. The Orange County Fire Authority is revising the numbers, but based on August figures released that month, here’s a list of cities, their contributions and their overpayments or underpayments:

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Overpayment/ City Contribution underpayment Irvine $19,348,394 $5,156,215 Unincorporated $17,424,812 $1,849,715 Laguna Niguel $5,764,461 $760,011 Dana Point $4,009,711 $680,442 Stanton $2,370,310 $222,037 Villa Park $683,091 $129,716 Laguna Hills $2,956,494 $76,379 Los Alamitos $812,324 $-137,071 San Juan Capistrano $2,611,598 $-151,412 Placentia $2,946,230 $-156,972 Seal Beach $2,432,354 $-190,774 Mission Viejo $6,972,726 $-370,075 La Palma $759,177 $-424,966 Buena Park $4,999,496 $-624,858 Lake Forest $3,369,167 $-654,005 San Clemente $3,355,824 $-1,001,554 Cypress $2,260,425 $-1,186,238 Yorba Linda $3,169,857 $-1,271,271 Westminster $5,267,285 $-1,340,204 Tustin $3,494,062 $-1,370,120

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Source: Orange County Fire Authority, 1998 Equity Study