County Supes Approve Temporary Funding for Fire District

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved temporary funding meant to restore services to a financially beleaguered fire district in the eastern part of the county, but urged the district to develop permanent solutions to its budget issues.

The supervisors approved recommendations a task force put forward to address problems at the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, including temporarily reopening a shuttered fire station in the community of Knightsen.

As a result, the fire station there, the more recent of two that the district has had to shut down, will be reopened for 18 months starting sometime early next year.

The Knightsen station was initially closed May 11 after voters for a second time denied an appropriation-boosting ballot initiative.

The reopening requires a one-time general fund contribution of $311,617, the county’s share of the $2.2 million estimated cost of reopening the station.

Supervisors on Tuesday made it clear that the funding was a temporary measure, and that it was more important to bring about long-term answers to the budget problems.

Although he advocated for the one-time contribution, Fire Chief Hugh Henderson himself said adding one more station to the district’s three-station model didn’t bring the district close to self-sufficient.

Henderson, who informed the supervisors of recent incidents that required the district to commit all of its resources for hours, said the district would require around 10 stations to provide service without relying on other agencies.

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jeff Carman told the supervisors Tuesday that his district cannot continue to cover for the neighboring district indefinitely.

Carman and the supervisors spoke to a “domino effect” the lack of services at the district is having on neighboring districts, as each has exhausted their own resources to cover fire and medical emergencies in the struggling district’s area.

The task force recommendations did highlight options for long-term solutions, such as public education about fire risks and a possible 2016 ballot initiative.

Supervisor Mary Piepho, whose office assisted the task force, said funding mechanisms will continue to be sought that “would bring the district into the 21st century.”

Supervisor Candace Andersen agreed with the need for long-term solutions, but served as the sole vote against approving the recommendations because of its short-term components.

“The biggest stumbling block for me with this issue is the precedent,” she said. “We’re well aware of issues at the Rodeo-Hercules (Fire Protection District). ... And if we’re going to fund East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, would not they expect us to do the same for them?”

Andersen said the supervisors would do well to consider “competing needs,” such as the recent reports of major problems with recruiting and retaining sheriff’s deputies in the county.

“This (general fund money) would go a long way to sustaining existing deputies as well,” she said.

Having the voters see that the county could bail out the fire district also wouldn’t help the chances of a future ballot measure, Andersen said.

Andersen said she wasn’t convinced that voters would support another ballot measure anyways, noting that the previous initiatives fell way short of the two-thirds majority needed.

Piepho contended that voters are starting to see the negative consequences of an under-funded fire district, whereas those effects were just threats during pushes for previous ballot measures.

Part of those negative include rising home insurance in the area as companies hike rates in response to a decline in fire coverage, Piepho said.

But Piepho did have some conditions to add to the task force recommendations before she voted in favor of it. Among other adjustments, she asked for a name change at the district, saying that the current name implied county supervisors were responsible for its status, which she said isn’t true.

The board approved that change, but a new name for the district has not yet been developed. After expressing minor qualms, each of the other supervisors did vote in favor of approving the recommendations, citing prevailing public safety concerns.

As for the $311,617 general fund cost, “it is not coming from other programs,” Supervisor Karen Mitchoff clarified. Supervisor John Gioia said he believes this one-time contribution was “a really good price.”

“The slack that exists in neighboring fire districts affects all of us,” Gioia said.

--Bay City News Service, photo via Shutterstock