Many Cities Will Pay More for Fire Authority Service

Many Orange County cities will pay more--in some cases, nearly $1 million or more--for fire services under a new arrangement approved late Thursday by the Orange County Fire Authority.

The action marked an understated end to months of heated wrangling over the cost of fire service for about 1 million Orange County residents. Although many cities balked when told their annual fire bills could rise by more than $1 million, the increases are relatively modest, with 11 cities still paying less than the true cost of their services.

“When we first started talking about this, there were a lot of hot thoughts and hard feelings,” outgoing authority Chairman Mike Ward of Irvine said Friday. “Everyone is not 100% happy, but I think everyone can live with the deal.”

The Orange County Fire Authority board, comprising 19 cities and the county, approved the new service contracts on a 15-3 vote. Board members from Tustin were absent, and Placentia’s abstained. The agreement must now be ratified by a majority of individual city councils and the Board of Supervisors. New service contracts would begin July 1, 2000.

Many cities face hefty increases. Cypress, Tustin and San Clemente, for example, will now pay $1 million more each year for services. Other cities, such as Dana Point, Irvine and Westminster, will see their bills drop.

The fire authority was formed in 1995 with a pledge that some cities would receive more service than they paid for, subsidized by a few wealthier cities, for at least three years. Negotiations on the so-called equity issue began in January after a study recommended a new payment schedule.

There will be no reductions in current service under the new system, authority spokesman Capt. Scott Brown said. Four cities will continue to pay more to the authority, subsidizing other cities. But those cities’ contributions come directly from tax proceeds; the money cannot be diverted to other uses.

With the new system, overpayments by Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Villa Park will go into a special fund earmarked for “service enhancements,” Brown said. Irvine is by far the largest donor, with a $5.4-million overpayment anticipated for the 1999-2000 fiscal year. The fund will be opened with $4.4 million in surpluses from last year.

The authority board will decide later what projects will qualify for enhancement funds, Brown said. Because the surplus amount is expected to change year-to-year, and is based on property assessments, it likely will not be used for more firefighters, he said.

For example, weed-abatement costs now paid by a donor city could come from the extra funds, he said, freeing up city money for other uses.

The new payments acknowledge that some cities still cannot afford to pay for the level of service they are receiving, Ward said. However, keeping the fire authority intact was too important to let money interfere, he said.

The system will give the authority more stability by creating 10-year contracts with guaranteed price increases of 3.5% for the first five years and 4% for the remainder. Cities that want to leave the authority would have to give two years’ notice, instead of the current one-year requirement.

Voting yes on the new service contracts were officials from Buena Park, Cypress, Dana Point, Irvine, La Habra, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Seal Beach, Stanton, Villa Park and the county.

Authority members from San Juan Capistrano, Westminster and Yorba Linda voted no.

The authority will decide in September whether to add Laguna Woods as the 20th city. That city would be subsidized by about $570,000 in the first year.

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Paying for Fire Service

Many cities in Orange County will pay more for fire services under a new agreement approved by the Orange County Fire Authority, comprising 19 cities and the county. The payments attempt to even out inequities in the amount cities have paid for services since the authority was formed in 1995. If approved by each city council and the county, the new payments would take effect July 1, 2000.

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1998-99 New taxes/fees payment Difference City fund payments Buena Park $5,168,507 $5,989,535 $821,028 Placentia 3,047,425 3,364,173 317,748 San Clemente 3,238,064 4,415,692 1,177,628 Seal Beach 2,515,899 2,934,631 418,732 Stanton 2,451,724 2,415,745 (35,979) Tustin 3,614,074 5,415,666 1,801,592 Westminster 5,468,889 6,295,369 826,480 Property tax payments Cypress 2,576,302 3,724,989 1,148,687 Dana Point 4,337,291 3,525,681 (811,610) Irvine 20,749,258 13,989,326 (6,759,932) La Palma 816,950 1,147,736 330,786 Laguna Hills 3,137,818 3,006,794 (131,024) Laguna Niguel 6,122,221 5,384,739 (737,482) Laguna Woods* 1,292,901 2,068,675 775,774 Lake Forest 4,157,729 4,807,435 649,706 Los Alamitos 838,143 1,161,482 323,339 Mission Viejo 7,468,431 7,941,374 472,943 San Juan Capistrano 3,083,277 3,078,958 (4,319) Villa Park 714,530 597,923 (116,607) Yorba Linda 4,252,693 4,783,381 530,688 Unincorporated 18,037,967 17,044,229 (993,738) TOTAL 103,090,097 103,093,533 --

Amount over/ (under) costs City fund payments Buena Park ($222,074) Placentia 0 San Clemente (736,059) Seal Beach (125,269) Stanton 0 Tustin (1,260,026) Westminster (196,943) Property tax payments Cypress (776,184) Dana Point 459,042 Irvine 5,360,999 La Palma (216,013) Laguna Hills 0 Laguna Niguel 199,008 Laguna Woods* (568,906) Lake Forest (168,962) Los Alamitos (207,191) Mission Viejo 0 San Juan Capistrano 0 Villa Park 56,815 Yorba Linda (52,349) Unincorporated 0 TOTAL 1,545,887

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* The authority will vote in September whether to allow Laguna Woods to join as the 20th

Source: Orange County Fire Authority