Santa Paula moves toward joining county fire

Feb. 22--The Santa Paula City Council on Tuesday took another step toward disbanding its fire department to instead get service from the county.

The council voted 5-0 to return next month with an application to apply to the Ventura Local Agency Formation Commission, which must sign off on the change because it involves annexing the city into the Ventura County Fire Protection District.

The district, which covers the county as well as the cities of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Port Hueneme, Moorpark, Camarillo and Ojai, is paid through property taxes.

Santa Paula would pay nearly 80 percent of its share of property taxes to fund the district. For the 2015-16 fiscal year, that would have been roughly $2.8 million, compared to the roughly $2.4 million the city spent out of its general fund.

RELATED CONTENT

*

Costs could snag Santa Paula fire switch to county system

*

Santa Paula to revisit fire service change

Officials supported the higher level of services and offerings a move to county fire would provide.

Chris Mahon, president of the union representing Santa Paula firefighters, said the move would allow the city to adequately provide for the projected population growth from new developments, including adding a ladder truck and the people to staff it.

He said if Santa Paula were to go alone and didn't add those things, "you're still looking at long-term savings if you go with an annexation."

But that isn't clear, in part because of incomplete information provided by the city. Harvest at Limoneria, formerly known as East Area One, is comprised of 1,500 housing units, but property taxes expected to be raised through the project were not included in any of the financial scenarios laid out by Fire Chief Rick Araiza and Finance Director Sandra Easley.

Easley said that's because the figures the city has are from 2015. "They're just too old," she said.

The city has requested updated figures from the consultant that did the initial financial impact report for the project. The city has asked that it be done "quickly," Easley said but didn't know when that would be.

The city has previously said it could generate up to $1.6 million in property taxes. Of that, $1.2 million would go to the fire district. The project developer is also giving the city $4 million and 1.5 acres for a new fire station.

Council member Ginger Gherardi said it didn't matter that property taxes related to the project were excluded.

"It's a wash," she said, when factoring in the costs of adding another station, other equipment and having to hire and pay more firefighters.

"It's a whole balancing act. It's a savings any way you look at it," Gherardi said.

The city expects to save money from workers' compensation claims and related insurance, because that responsibility would fall to the fire district.

Conversely, it would lose money in fees from permits related to fire inspections, filming and plan checks and reimbursements from other emergency agencies, city officials said.

The matter is expected to return to the council March 6.

___

(c)2017 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)

Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.