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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02211984 - T.4 ry THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on February 21 , 1984 , by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Powers, Fanden, Mc Peak and Torlakson NOES: None ABSENT: Supervisor Schroder ABSTAIN: None SUBJECT: Fire Protection Plan Implementation The Director of Planning having thi's day submitted the following report on fire protection plan implementation: On January 24, 1984, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Fire Protection Plan component of the County General Plan with the instruction that a status report on plan implementation be presented to the Board in six weeks. The following status report presented for your information. PLAN STATUS o The Fire Protection Plan was adopted as county policy for locating and relocating fire stations. o This policy identifies financing means and the method by which the plan can be implemented. o Specific station establishment and relocation criteria included in the plan will be used in setting implementation priorities. o The Plan does not specify year-by-year facility construction goals since these are dependent on the rate and location of County development, and would require plan amendments to change. Our recommendations on implementation would address these short-term station priorities. o The Plan does not specify a single finance mechanism since different financing will Probably be needed in different areas. Our recommendations on implementation would address area-specific finance proposals. o The adopted plan and policies are compatible with, and can be a part of, the County Administrator's office's proposed fire service organization program. o Initial efforts at formulating implementation recommendations have been coordinated with the Administrator's office, and our proposed development of plan Implementation support data and specific recommendations will be done in conjunc- tion with the offices.of the County Administrator, Assessor and County Counsel together with the fire districts. PROCEDURES The Director of Planning in cooperation with the County Tax Assessor and the Office of the County Administrator and County Counsel will proceed with: o Collection and preparation of the necessary data, 'rate schedules, capital cost and personnel cost information. o Preparation of specific recommendations on short-term station establishment priorities. o Development of a finance program with emphasis on Fire Suppression Assessments and similar means of finance as outlined in this status report. 508 Discussion The Fire Protection Plan implementation provisions have been carefully constructed to provide the Board with a clear understanding of the statutory limitations and require- ments as well as the fiscal implications of proposed financing plans prior to their activation. Certain fund-raising options can be identified at the outset as clearly easier to implement or more fiscally equitable to the involved fire protection jurisdictions and affected taxpayers, thus allowing implementation efforts to be concentrated on these options. Concomitant with development of additional means of finance is the need to set priorities among planned stations for their establishment. Both the setting of priorities for station establishment and the establishment of a land use inventory for certain finance options require similar parcel-specific data. The quickest and most efficient approach in implementation would be to concentrate on the finance program or programs which have common parcel data requirements with station priority setting. The format for develop- ment of a concise recommendation for the first phase of station establishment follows. Station Priorities A listing of station priorities and the associated equipment and annual personnel costs must be developed in close cooperation with fire chiefs and office of the County Administrator. For the most part, priorities for additional stations stipulated in the Fire Protection Plan are to be based on calculations involving property improvement valuations (what there is to protect), population (people subject to fire and emergency medical response needs), and response incidents (current demand for service). Station relocations will be contingent to an extent on additional station establishment locations as well as the above factors. A recommended priority listing of short-run station needs based on adopted general plan criteria, can be developed after the completion of the base data. One station which currently meets the establishment threshold criteria is the planned Walnut Avenue Station in Walnut Creek within the Contra Costa Consolidated Fire District. This station is used for illustrative purposes in this status report. Selection of Supplementary Finance Programa From the outset of developing the Fire Protection Facilities Plan it was recognized that personnel costs would dominate capital costs. Personnel costs for one station over a two year period would normally outweigh combined station construction, land, and equipment costs. Continuing personnel costs, therefore, constitute a significant facility finance limitation for both the short and long run. It is for this reason that the Fire Protection Plan proposes a means of paying for facility construction which addresses both personnel and capital costs. The Kapiloff Fire Suppression Assessment is one such finance alternative. Other alternatives exist but are not as easily implemented. The Fire Suppression Assessment can be a continuing source of revenue to be used for the purpose of obtaining, furnishing, operating, and maintaining fire suppression equipment or apparatus or for the purpose of paying the salaries amd benefits of firefighting personnel, or both. Such an assessment can be established by adoption of an implementing ordinance and assessment rate schedule by the Board, for County Fire Districts, or by the legislative body, for independent districts. If protests to the establishment of an assessment are received from persons who would be obligated to provide more than 5% (aggregate) of the expected revenue, then the proposal must be placed on the ballot and is subject to passage by a majority vote. When contrasted with the required two-thirds vote for establishment of special taxes, as would be required with a Community Facilities District, the Fire Suppression Assessment represents a greater opportunity for successful implementation. Kapiloff-type fire suppression assessments could be established over a series of districts, separately for individual districts, or in zones of benefit within a district. Properties could be equitably assessed on a parcel basis according to measures of fire suppression demand such as fire flow requirements, structure use, or other factors relating to potential fire hazards. This type of assessment could be used to finance personnel and equipment expenses now funded from other sources, thereby allowing a reallocation of current district tax proceeds and Special District Augmentation Funds disbursement for use in constructing capital facilities. Assessment amounts will vary depending on such factors as the extent of zones of benefit over which costs are to be spread, the number of stations to be established during the life of the assessment, and whether a station establishment is an additional station within a district (requiring new furnishings and equipment) or whether a relocation is to be financed (allowing existing equipment and furnishings to be transferred from a phased-out 509 station). d —2— Example Using the establishment of the previously discussed Walnut Avenue Station, with new equipment and furnishings, as an example, and assuming an assessment spread district-wide and used for funding personnel and equipment costs, preliminary estimates indicate that an average assessment of approximately $7 per parcel the first year and $S in subsequent years would provide adequate funding. Accurately calculating the assess- ment for district-wide application, or for only the station's service area, would require the use of parcel inventory data. A first year assessment at the above level could be used for district-wide personnel and equipment costs allowing existing sources of budget funding (which would otherwise be used for these costs) to be reallocated for station construction funding and equipment purchase. Subsequent assessments would be sufficient to fund the incremental addition to district-wide personnel and equipment maintenance costs associated with expansion of fire protection service through station additions. These example assessments are based on gross calculations with a low level of detailed information and with broadly generalized assumptions. Actual assessment amounts may be lower for individual homeowners and higher for intense-use commercial property or large tracts of land. Limitations on the use of Kapiloff assessments may occur in those districts at or near their Proposition 4 appropriations limit or in districts with low personnel and equipment material costs, such as volunteer districts. Additionally, the statutory authority for using fire suppression assessments will expire on January 1, 1988, unless a later enacted statute is passed to extend this limit prior to the status expiration date. Data Requirements Specific parcel data is required for development of fee or rate schedules to be used in implementing a Kapiloff-type assessment, a Community Facilities District, or other such finance program. Programming and data organization will be required to sort each parcel of land in the county into land-use characteristic files using the land information system, assessor files, and the data center in close cooperation with the County Assessor's Office. The resulting data would also be needed by fire districts wishing to establish their own Fire Suppression Assessment or Community Facilities Act programs. The data required for structuring the described finance program, and other programs, can additionally be used to aid the population and improvement valuation inventory of station service areas which is necessary for setting priorities for fire station establishment in accord with the adopted Fire Protection Plan criteria. The cost of producing this data would be modest. We would provide cost estimates in a future status report if the Board agrees that we should pursue the development of this proposed program. Program administration costs could be recaptured during revenue collection as provided in the applicable statutes. IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the above report is REFERRED to its Internal Operations Committee (Supervisors Powers and Fanden) to consider with the January 31 , 1984 referral of the County Administrator's report on fire service. 1"f*by eeetify that fhfs is a trw and oerreat copy of an action taken and entered on the fninutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: J.R.OLSSON.COUNTY CLERK cc: Internal Operations Committee and ex offirlo Clerk of the Board Director of Planninq County Administrator 8y C1e�• _. _ , Dep+,ty Public Works Director County Counsel 51,0 9--