County Says Canyon Lake Owes Nearly $1 Million in Unpaid Fire Service Bills

The County of Riverside has filed a claim demanding that the city of Canyon Lake pay its fire service bills-- to the tune of nearly $1 million.

County officials allege that, over the last year, Canyon Lake has not made a single payment under a fire protection contract originally established in April 2012.

The county has maintained a fire station within the gated municipality, with eight full-time fire personnel available around the clock, according to the claim.

“Negotiations over the past year to resolve the dispute, unfortunately, have been unsuccessful,” according to a county statement. “City officials want the county to simply forgive the debt and have made no attempt to pay any portion of invoices that cover services provided since January 2014 ... Canyon Lake officials contend they cannot afford to pay what they promised.”

The total amount due, according to the county, is $903,646.

Canyon Lake Mayor Jordan Ehrenkranz told City News Service that the city filed a petition in Superior Court earlier this week requesting relief from the county’s claims. 

He acknowledged that the city in 2013 sought to close the county fire station because “we couldn’t afford to support it.”

According to the county, the closure was opposed by public safety officials, and the county elected to press forward with negotiations to maintain fire protection service in Canyon Lake while keeping the firehouse open.

Current emergency response times in the city average 3-4 minutes. Without the station, according to city officials, the time to get paramedics or firefighters to an emergency could jump to 11-14 minutes.

In the November election, Measure DD was narrowly approved by 50.79 percent of Canyon Lake voters. Under the measure, residents will pay a 3.95 percent utility users tax to generate an estimated $775,000 annually over the next six years in support of emergency services.

According to county officials, the Canyon Lake City Council appears to have foreclosed the option of using some portion of that revenue to repay the county.

“The tax ... provides sufficient new resources for the city to pay for necessary services,” county officials wrote.

County Counsel Greg Priamos said the county has no intention of writing off “a bill for almost $1 million.”

“Justifiably, other county taxpayers would have reason to be outraged,” he said. “That would not be fair to the other taxpayers.”

According to court papers, the county submitted a May 9, 2014, bill for $354,263; another quarterly invoice was submitted on Aug. 26 for $195,357; a third invoice was sent on Nov. 14 in the amount of $354,024 -- with all of the bills going unpaid.

The fire protection contract guarantees access to a fire engine at all times.

The invoices did not specify the number or type of calls to which personnel responded during the billing periods.

– By City News Service.