A third-party consultant echoed concerns voiced by the Five Cities Fire Authority for at least the past five years.
Hired by the city managers of Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande, the Baker Tilly group recently presented preliminary findings about the future of fire services in parts of southern San Luis Obispo County following the anticipated exit of the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD).
“The recent annual financial contributions from the participating agencies have really not been sufficient to cover the total operating costs of the authority,” Baker Tilly special advisor Larry Waterhouse announced at the Grover Beach City Council meeting on Feb. 27.
Waterhouse is referring to the frozen funding contributions from Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande, and the OCSD. A 2020 amendment to the Joint Powers Agreement, which governs emergency medical and fire services for the three areas, locked in the amount of money each put in the pot. The agreement will expire in July 2023, but the Fire Authority is in dire need of more funds so that they can hire more firefighters and improve their service abilities.
The OCSD and its $1.1 million in contributions per year are expected to leave the Fire Authority by June 30, but the consultant found that timeline to be unrealistic. SLO County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is also conducting its own evaluation of the impact of OCSD’s departure, which will take six to 12 months.
After interviewing public officials, including City Managers Matthew Bronson and Whitney McDonald of Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande, respectively; OCSD General Manager Will Clemens; FCFA command staff; and leaders of the firefighter union, among others, Baker Tilly discovered that the numerous operational challenges faced by the FCFA resulted in personnel feeling stressed.
Other findings include an imminent need for an ongoing and dedicated revenue stream to fully finance the operation and capital costs in the future, and that nonemergency requests make up a whopping 40 percent of FCFA’s call volume.
Baker Tilly highlighted two potential directions for the participating cities.
One plan imagines that Oceano continues to receive Fire Authority services. While future services are expected to cost the unincorporated community $1.2 million in fiscal year 2024, Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande would have to pay more than $3 million and $4 million, respectively. For the cities, it would be a significant jump from the budgeted respective $2 million and $2.5 million for fiscal year 2023. With the additional funds, the FCFA would be able to hire 3.5 more full-time employees, according to the consultant’s findings. Currently, the department staffs 26.5 full-time employees.
The second plan doesn’t include the OCSD, and would reduce staffing to 24. That scheme would require Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande to contribute similar amounts in 2023 and 2024 to what’s outlined in the other plan.
City Manager Bronson told New Times that his staff wasn’t surprised by the findings. Grover Beach will now work with Arroyo Grande to restructure the Joint Powers Agreement for fire services.
“The [City] Council direction also includes providing service to Oceano by contract while the [OCSD] goes through a divestiture process to cease providing fire services, at which point the county would likely be responsible for these services,” he said.
Baker Tilly also recommended introducing a parcel tax in both cities that could act as reliable funding streams. The OCSD had firsthand experience with an unpopular parcel tax measure that its voters defeated in two separate election cycles. But without a dedicated source of money, the cities would have to either find their own revenue streams or make substantial reductions to their general fund expenses.
“A tax measure would need to be placed on the November 2024 ballot by August 2024, and before then, the city would seek to do polling to gauge the level of potential support by the community and inform the council’s decision,” Bronson said.
The agency’s final report will be ready in mid-March. In a statement issued to New Times, the Fire Authority’s union said the analysis was a “great opportunity” to set up a positive and safe future for residents and fire personnel alike.
Union leader Jeff Lane commented on the anxieties about meeting funding requirements after Baker Tilly’s presentation to the Arroyo Grande City Council on Feb. 28.
“This is not just a matter of money but the literal ability to save lives,” he said at the meeting. “The question should be, ‘What is the cost to save a single life?'” Δ
This article appears in Mar 2-12, 2023.