The State of Santa Cruz County Fire
As many of you who live in Santa Cruz County will remember, there was a mail-in ballot sent to the voters to increase fire and EMS funding via the CSA48 service area (Santa Cruz County Fire Department) last year. The measure would have bumped the annual fee by just under $100.00 would have provided enough funding to maintain our current level of service and begin a badly needed and often delayed program to replace aging emergency response vehicles (fire engines, rescues, and water tenders). The measure was not successful and I have been fielding many questions from folks as to what that means us locally. First a little background. Santa Cruz County Fire Department is the umbrella organization that provides fire service in the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County. Elements of Santa Cruz County fire including volunteer fire companies such as Loma Prieta, and South Skyline/Los Cumbres, along with Cal Fire (Burrell and Saratoga-Summit fire stations) combine to bring you rapid and in depth response to the wide variety of emergencies here on the mountain, either in Santa Cruz County, or in nearby parts of Santa Clara County (through automatic-aid or mutual-aid). Santa Cruz County Fire uses a combination of property taxes and the CSA48 fees to fund the paid firefighters at Burrell and Saratoga-Summit fire stations, most emergency response vehicles, training, dispatch, maintenance, and fire prevention. When those funds fall short it becomes necessary to make cuts in order to prevent the entire Santa Cruz County Fire Department from collapsing. Please keep in mind that donations to the volunteer fire companies and fund raisers like Loma Prieta Fire and Rescue's annual BBQ (June 1st this year) are used to buy additional equipment that Santa Cruz County fire does not provide such as enhanced medical equipment, more capable rescue tools and even our rescue. While the volunteer fire companies are extremely grateful for the donations that we receive, these funds benefit our local community directly—not pay for Santa Cruz County Fire in general. One of the actions undertaken a few months ago to stem the red ink, is a reduction in the number of paid Cal Fire firefighters that will respond to an emergency in our area. Three days a week there will be only two firefighters on an fire engine instead of usual three. This is a rotating staff reduction being felt in all parts of County Fire in order to avoid having any one community bear the brunt of these budget cuts. Volunteer Firefighters will continue to fill the breech and it is not likely at this time that either the paid station or the volunteer station will be closing. We can expect to see additional cuts in the near future. The department revenues still fall far short of expenditures in spite of running an extremely lean operation. We have put off replacing fire engines, rescues and water tenders for several years. Virtually every economy has been squeezed out of the budget. Other challenges face the department as well. Annexation discussions are currently underway in the South County involving the area served by the Corralitos Volunteers. The Bonny Doon Volunteers are intent on forming their own district. Should either of these come to fruition there would be extreme impacts on the Santa Cruz County Fire Department. What are we doing locally to ensure the timely delivery of vital fire and emergency medical services? Loma Prieta Volunteer Fire and Rescue and South Skyline/Los Cumbres are well represented both at the Santa Cruz County Fire level and the with in the Fire Department Advisory Commission (FDAC). FDAC is a body that advises both the Board of Supervisors and the County Fire Chief in matters regarding fire service within CSA48. FDAC has been actively studying the necessary short term cuts and developing alternate funding sources in long term. We will undoubtedly go back to the voters for another attempt at an increase in funding, but the timing of ballot measures is such that we will see further budget cuts and service reductions before we can hope to get more funding to restore service levels to those that we have enjoyed in the past. In the mean time, it will be a tough couple of years. As far as the annexation and separation discussions, they move very slowly so it is difficult to determine time lines. We are making our case to the organization that has jurisdiction in these matters (LAFCO). We are asking that no action be taken that will harm other response areas, such as our own. Many of you have asked for a meeting regarding these issues. Our intent is to schedule a meeting in May to answer questions and to freely exchange information. We look forward to seeing you there.