Schillo Presses for Fire Services Report

Frustrated by delays in one of his pet projects, Thousand Oaks City Councilman Frank Schillo has asked county officials to hurry a report analyzing how much each city pays for fire protection and how much service that money buys.

The county’s Fire Protection District analysts promised last fall to draft the report in an effort to determine whether costs and benefits are spread fairly among the six member cities.

But since then, officials have been distracted by raging wildfires, the destructive earthquake and the surprise resignation of county Fire Chief George Lund.

Fiscal Analyst Abbe Cohen said she hopes to complete the reports within three months.

The district receives about $11 million in property-tax revenues from Thousand Oaks, and spends about $10.2 million on the city, according to a county report issued last year.

The delay has forced the city’s consultant, Bob Braitman, to put off his analysis of Thousand Oaks’ fire protection needs.

Braitman was hired last July to evaluate whether the city would be best off sticking with the county district or forming an independent fire department. The City Council authorized him to provide up to $10,000 worth of consulting services.

So far, Braitman has been paid $3,153 for nearly 25 hours of work plus expenses, including telephone calls, faxes, copy costs and a copy of the county directory, according to Steve Elam, the city’s deputy finance director. All those hours were billed last September, October and December.

Since then, Braitman said, he’s been waiting for the county report.

Tired of the delays, Schillo urged officials to speed up their analysis, as he suspects Thousand Oaks residents are paying too much for fire protection services.

“I know there’s been a fire and a quake, yet we need to have some idea when they will be done with that report,” Schillo said.