Measure P: A Feature on Fire Department Needs

News

Sep 26

Are you curious about how Measure P—a ¼-cent general sales tax that reallocates a tiny portion of our current tax dollars to fire safety services for ten years—will be used by our fire departments?
Read on…

There are 22 fire departments in Mendocino County, headed by 20 fire chiefs. Each of
these departments has unique, specific needs that reflect the community they serve. All of them except Westport receive some funding from property-tax assessments on residents in their districts—many of which have not been raised in a decade or more.

Most fire departments in Mendocino County routinely respond to calls outside of their
district in what is known as their “sphere of influence.” This means that they routinely provide
services to residents who do not support them with property tax. Furthermore, they provide
emergency aid to all tourists and travelers in our county who also give them no tax support, and no guarantee that insurance companies will ever provide any reimbursement. As a sales tax, Measure P is an opportunity to share some of the cost of funding emergency services with
these many currently non-contributing users.

All 20 Mendocino County fire chiefs will be relying on Measure P funds over the next ten
years to continue providing top-notch, life-saving services to everyone in need. Below are some
examples of the unique challenges that our fire departments face—and how Measure P would
provide sustainable assistance to their departments.

● Did you know that your homeowner’s insurance rates are impacted by the assets of
your local fire department? An ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating is assigned to
each fire department, and applied to residences in the districts they cover. ISO ratings
are impacted by factors like equipment availability, number of fire stations, water
supply, staffing and training. Larger fire departments such as Ukiah and Fort Bragg
could leverage Measure P funds to lower their ISO rating, which would benefit their
entire communities. For example, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority needs back-up
engines in order to qualify for a lower ISO rating, and one fire engine can cost over
$400,000. Measure P funds would help the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority afford
purchases like those.

● The Elk Volunteer Fire Department has 20 volunteer firefighters who are all trained
in firefighting activities, CPR, ambulance driving and fire-engine driving. In addition to
the mutual aid they provide to other coast fire departments, they cover 57 square
miles in their own district and provide services to about 450 full-time residents. This
number can soar to more than 3,000 during peak summer months for visitors and
tourists. One of their first uses of Measure P funds would be to replace their almost-
expired Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses (SCBAs) for all 20 of their volunteers,
which will cost about $100,000. After that? Well, their ambulance is 27 years old, and
with ambulances costing $400,000 each, they cannot purchase a new one without
Measure P funds giving them a start on saving for an eventual replacement.

● Both the Laytonville Volunteer Fire Department and Anderson Valley Volunteer
Fire Department run their ambulance services at a loss, so part of their ambulance
costs have to be pulled from their fire-fighting budget to keep ambulance services
running, in the best interest of their communities. Measure P will allow them to
balance out some of that loss, and reinvest in trainings, training equipment and gear to
support their fire services.

● The South Coast Volunteer Fire Department covers 150 square miles and responds
to fires all over our county despite their location—most recently they assisted with the
Walker Fire near Willits. But just last year, they had a 49% increase in their local call
volume, while mandatory Workers’ Compensation and general insurance costs eat up
a significant portion of their yearly budget. Measure P would help them to keep up with
those required insurance costs, and still have adequate funds for training and
equipment to keep up with their local call volume while continuing to provide mutual
aid in other areas.

● The Redwood Valley-Calpella Volunteer Fire Department’s future budget
projections put them at a loss. They will always be there to serve their community, but
how can we expect them to operate in the red? When we have a house fire or medical
emergency, we do not want hear that they can’t afford to come and help us.

● The Fort Bragg Fire Department’s main station has a serious roof leak—when it
rains, they have to set out buckets, and the station’s sheetrock has been damaged.
Repair is necessary to maintain their building, especially to protect their vital
equipment, but replacing the roof is a huge cost that they can’t afford without the
support of Measure P funds.

● The Westport Volunteer Fire Department covers 209 square miles along the coast
but has no local property tax base to fund them. Their recent operating budget was
about $90,000 with $50,000 of that coming from generous donations. This support
from their community is admirable! But they still rely on grants to cover basic
equipment purchase and upkeep. They recently received a small grant from the
Mendocino County Fire Safe Council to purchase chainsaws to help create defensible
space and access thickly wooded areas in emergencies. Measure P will provide some
stability to Westport’s budget, allowing them to plan around sustained funding for at
least the next 10 years.

● The Hopland Volunteer Fire Department needs to be able to staff their station 24/7 –
there are just too many late-night calls not to have someone at the ready, and
volunteers cannot cover all shifts. Measure P will allow them to hire professional
personnel to keep their station staffed, and provide even better service to Hopland and
the many communities to which they provide mutual aid.

In the words of our Fire Chiefs:

The Little Lake Fire Department’s main funding comes from private property assignment
taxes, which provide the majority of our operating funds. These taxes can only be raised by the
voting public within our District.The last time we asked the public to approve an increase was in 2001, and we have been operating on those funds ever since. Imagine running a business on a fixed income, where
the price of everything you need continues to rise, but you have no easy way to increase your
revenue. This is our reality. Now imagine that the service you provide has life-or-death
consequences, and your only choices in these financial conditions are providing less service or
providing lower-quality service—an impossible dilemma.

Measure P will provide needed funds not only to better staff our department but to
bolster other struggling budgetary items. It will also have an effect on any future needs
assessments done within the next 10 years. If a future needs assessment shows that we still
need to raise Assessment Taxes, the amount we need to request will definitely be lower than if
Measure P fails.

I would like to point out that Measure P sales tax funds will also be collected from
traveling visitors. All Mendocino County Fire Departments respond to all emergency calls for
service, and a lot of these calls are to assist the traveling public. Sales tax is countywide and
distributed to all departments in the county, so Measure P would provide a mechanism to help
fund fire departments’ responses to those calls as well.

Bill Carter, Chief of Little Lake Fire Department

I personally support this initiative, having first-hand knowledge of how small fire
departments struggle to afford the things we need to effectively operate. As time goes by, our
gear and equipment ages, and becomes non-compliant, while costs grow faster than our
budgets.

For the people of Laytonville, please keep in mind that you get something most
communities do not—a 24/7 ambulance service that is run by, and partially staffed by, your local
volunteers. Many people may not know that the ambulance business yields super-low returns,
mainly because of the very low controlled rates paid by Medi-Cal and Medicare. A lot of
transports are also just unbillable.

Most ambulance companies make their revenue with hospital-to-hospital transfers,
which are pre-approved and pay very well—and Laytonville’s ambulance service is not
positioned to do that. So, in business terms, we operate the ambulance “in the red.” That said,
around 80% of our calls are medical, so we choose to forfeit a significant portion of our fire-tax income just to keep the ambulance operational—we feel this choice is in the best interest of
serving our community’s needs.

The funding that our district stands to receive from Measure P is just a little more than
the average amount that the ambulance budget takes out of the fire budget—so Measure P has
the potential to balance things out, at least for the next ten years, and allow our fire services to
use their full budget. Imagine how much training, gear and equipment we would be able to
update if this comes to fruition! Please take the time to study up on Measure P and consider
how much it would actually help all of us.

Thanks,
Matt Matheson, Laytonville Fire Chief

The Fort Bragg Fire Department was established in 1891. Since that time, everyone involved here has worked hard to earn and maintain our community’s support.

As Fire Chief for the last 21 years, I am often asked what is the secret to having such a
respected organization—not just for decades but for centuries? My response is that it
takes teamwork from everyone involved. Egos must be checked at the door, and we all
have to pull in the same direction. When I say everyone, that includes our governing
board members, paid staff, volunteer officers and firefighters, our support groups (families
and friends) and the community we serve. It may sound naïve, but this approach is
working and continues to work for us.

We have 32 Volunteers, four paid staff (Fire Chief, Office Manager, Fire
Prevention Officer and Maintenance Engineer). We respond to around 700 calls per year.
We train weekly and respond efficiently. We have good equipment, and with our mixture
of older, experienced firefighters and newer, younger firefighters eager to learn, we have
the makings of a good, strong department.

With that said, we do have needs that are financially impossible for us to address.
Our main station is one of our biggest concerns. We have to place buckets strategically
around the station every time it rains, to catch the water that penetrates the roof. This is
not only a burden, but these water leaks are causing increasing damage to our attic areas
and to the building itself. We have damaged sheetrock in various sections of the station.
Replacing an entire roof is very expensive, and our ideal solution would be a newly
designed roof that would allow solar panels. This addition, while expensive, would help us
financially for years to come.

We also have concerns over the stability of the north section of the main station,
which is not up to earthquake standards. We have had studies done, and plans
completed to address this issue—but again, no funding. If we were able to get a portion of
the County’s sales tax, besides the repairs and improvements to our fire station, we hope
to augment our Apparatus Replacement Fund. The ARF was set up years ago to ensure money is set aside annually to replace engines as needed. It has been working out extremely well but, as with everything else, the prices of engines have sky-rocketed.

Adding some money to a fund that has been proven to work, in our opinion, would be a
good investment for our entire community. I should add that having good equipment not only provides for a more efficient response but helps in attaining a lower ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating. The lower
rating translates to lower insurance premiums for all property owners in our community.