Fire Officials Dispute City’s Claims : Thousand Oaks: Data shows it gets a fair return for its dollars. A task force considers forming a separate department.

Top Ventura County fire officials on Wednesday disputed claims that Thousand Oaks taxpayers subsidize firefighting services in other communities, presenting new statistics indicating the city gets a fair return for its dollars.

Fire Chief George Lund said he intends to cooperate with a citizens task force now debating whether Thousand Oaks should break from the county fire district to form an independent, city-run department.

But at the task force’s first meeting Wednesday, he insisted that the city has not been shortchanged. Furthermore, Lund said that Thousand Oaks benefits from belonging to a regional district, which allows the city to pool overhead and equipment costs with five other cities plus unincorporated areas of Ventura County.

“It is not uncommon for an engine from Ojai to respond to a fire in Newbury Park--in fact, that happened just a few days ago,” Lund said. “Thousand Oaks is a very high-demand service area.”

Lund’s comments are a complete reversal from a month ago, when he said he believed Thousand Oaks taxpayers pour more money into the district’s coffers than they got back in services. But he said a new analysis of emergency calls and other fire protection services showed him that Thousand Oaks gets its fair share.

Backing up Lund’s assertion of equity, Assistant Chief Dave Festerling presented statistics to the task force showing that Thousand Oaks accounts for fully one-quarter of all service calls within the district. In return, the city contributes about 25% of the district’s annual budget.

Thus, when measuring Thousand Oaks’ contribution against its demand for services, “the numbers are pretty close,” Festerling said.

But Councilman Frank Schillo, chairman of the citizens task force, said he could not shake the feeling that his constituents pay far more than they should.

According to the fire district’s own statistics, Thousand Oaks contributes a little more than $11 million in property taxes to the district’s annual budget each year, while similarly sized Simi Valley pumps in only $6.5 million.

“We’re paying more into the pot and not getting the services back,” Schillo said.

Emphasizing the need to investigate more fully, he added, “I’m only interested in getting the biggest bang for our buck.”

The Board of Supervisors’ decision this week to abandon a proposed $110-a-year fire protection tax on homeowners did not dissuade Thousand Oaks officials from pursuing the possibility of an independent fire department.

“It’s an issue that has been raised before, and it was probably exacerbated by the attempt to levy a new assessment,” Mayor Judy Lazar said. “But even without the tax, it still bears looking at,” she said, as a way to trim government expenses.

Several of the 30 Thousand Oaks residents attending the task force’s two-hour meeting agreed.

“This city is certainly big enough to support its own system, and I think it should have been done a long time ago,” longtime resident Peggy Cardwell said.

Others, including several firefighters, were not as enthusiastic.

“All over, cities are going broke so they’re contracting out for fire service with larger departments,” said Gary Preston, a Thousand Oaks resident and Los Angeles firefighter. “I’m a little concerned because I never heard of a city leaving a county to form its own department.”

Although Thousand Oaks officials have threatened for years to pull out of the county fire district, the citizens task force represents the first firm step toward secession.

The City Council set up the task force in late May to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of forming an independent city fire department and report back with its findings. The group plans to schedule a second meeting for early August, when the county fire district will have more detailed information about the cost of battling blazes in Thousand Oaks.

“I think this is a good exercise,” Chief Lund said. “When we’re through, regardless of what decision is made, people will feel good about the services they receive and about the fire district.”