Cities Are Divided as Fire Funding Issue Smolders

The cities that make up the Orange County Fire Authority have given themselves a difficult task as they try to find common ground over ways to fund the agency.

Deeply divided on what to do, the authority and its 19 cities and the county have to decide in the next few months how to ensure that each city pays a fair share for services.

So far, some of the cities that can’t afford to pay their way fully don’t like the plan the agency’s consultant is recommending.

“I have a real problem with this, should it be implemented,” Tustin Councilwoman Tracy Wills Worley said last week. Westminster City Manager Donald Vestal said: “We feel the existing contract accurately reflects the cost we should bear.”

Under the plan, Tustin would pay an additional $69,881 per year for the next 12 years before it reaches so-called equity--paying fully for services it receives--and Westminster would pay $105,746 more annually for five years.

The city councils of Westminster and Cypress already have voted against accepting the recommendation to increase fees 2%. Some outspoken members of the coalition are suggesting that they should leave the authority or, at least, consider receiving reduced services.

Cypress faces a different problem. Mayor Tim Keenan said the city is a so-called “fire-tax city.” That means its revenue for fire services is based on a property tax formula locked in by Proposition 13, the 1978 measure that caps property taxes at 1% of a home’s assessed value.

“I think that things are pretty much in a holding pattern for people in Cypress,” Keenan said. “What would happen if we left the authority? We would lose our board position, essentially our representation, and the Fire Authority keeps our money.”

If cities leave the authority, they would have to negotiate with county supervisors to get their money back, said a consultant for the authority.

The authority is concerned that six cities and the county are making up a shortfall of nearly $9 million that is spent on service for seven of the other cities.

A 43-page study presented last Tuesday lays out five options--four that include payment schedules for each city and one that recommends no changes.

Irvine Councilman Mike Ward, who chairs the Fire Authority’s board of directors, calls much of the criticism “premature” because the board hasn’t scheduled a hearing on the alternatives yet.

Ward said he hopes discussion remains harmonious.

“[Tuesday’s] talk was very calm,” Ward said. “It wasn’t a love fest or anything like that, but some questions were answered. It’s imperative among the member cities to keep this Fire Authority composed the way it is.”

The board has until June to argue positions and reach an agreement.

Finding a consensus will be tough. Officials from La Palma, Los Alamitos, Tustin, Westminster and Cypress said they disagree with the study’s recommendations.

Some officials question the need for a study at all. They argue that government rarely provides taxpayers with the same services equal to what they pay in taxes. In addition, member cities said they already are strapped for revenue and can’t afford to pay higher costs for fire services.

Mike Davis, a Sacramento consultant hired to conduct the equity study, said there is no easy or perfect solution. At last week’s workshop, Davis said he studied regional fire systems in Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle and other cities and “found no regional fire protection systems that have achieved a creative solution to this problem.”

Authority Fire Chief Charles “Chip” Prather also doubted that equity can or should be achieved, especially with structural fire-tax cities like Cypress. An authority attorney has been asked to research the issue.

Prather did warn that the emotional debate has the potential to disrupt the authority.

“We’re facing some tough decisions and tough choices,” he said. “There may be a city or two that decides to do something else. We’ll recover from that and move on.”

The option recommended by the study would adjust the payments of a dozen cities by 2% per year, the maximum amount allowable under the organization’s bylaws.

When the Fire Authority was created in 1995, the cities imposed a three-year waiting period before any changes could be made in the cost of services based on so-called equity. That period expired last March.

Some cities, such as San Clemente, don’t have much of a choice. The city is surrounded by other member cities that have voiced support for some of the payment options, Councilwoman Susan Ritschel said.

The city “can’t leave” the authority, Ritschel said, because forming its own fire department would be too expensive.

Though officials in some cities harshly criticized the study’s recommendations, most said they need time to digest the study. Nevertheless, they said, their city councils are expected to debate the issues thoroughly before voting on the recommendations.

Many cities defend the authority, saying it provides superior service. Even if costs go up, the agency is still cheaper and more effective than individual fire departments, defenders say.

“The OCFA is probably the best thing that ever happened to Orange County as far as fire protection goes,” said Stanton Councilman David Shawver. “We need to keep it that way.”

Shawver said Stanton’s council is willing to continue to pay extra money to help keep the Fire Authority together. Stanton pays $2.3 million a year, which Shawver said amounts to an overpayment of nearly $250,000.

Mission Viejo Mayor Sherri M. Butterfield, who is on the authority’s board, said she understands funding dilemmas such as those facing Cypress. But, she said, “there will be common ground.”

“We need to acknowledge we have donors and recipients, and something needs to be done about it--and that something will be our big challenge,” she said.

The study was initiated by Irvine, which pays about $4 million more into the system than it receives in services.

Under the recommended plan, Irvine would lower its payments by about $386,000 per year, giving it a balanced contribution in just over 10 years.