Santa Rosa eyes takeover of fire services for Rincon Valley department

It currently costs about $5 million a year for the far-reaching Rincon Valley Fire Protection District to fund firefighting services and staff for tens of thousands of residents on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.

If those services and staff were folded into the city’s department, the cost to Santa Rosa could be the same, according to Santa Rosa Fire Chief Tony Gossner.

The cost is one of the key questions that city and firefighting officials are wrestling with as they move toward a decision on whether to enlarge the city department to take on Rincon Valley’s 125-square-mile jurisdiction.

Officials don’t expect any change in response times or other emergency aid. But a union could dramatically alter the fire-services landscape in a central part of Sonoma County that is home to 210,000 people.

“Is the money there? It’s going to be close,” Gossner said.

The two sides are more than a year into a study of a possible deal, and a much-anticipated report expected out soon could lay the groundwork for a decision, though the City Council is not expected to take that step before the end of the year.

How the money would be divided is key, Rincon Valley’s chief, Doug Williams said. “It’s got to work for everybody.”

Rincon Valley’s $5 million budget includes $3.8 million for salary and benefit costs for 18 firefighters who would become Santa Rosa firefighters under the deal. The compensation costs would escalate within a year because Rincon Valley’s all-veteran firefighting staff would need to be given regular raises to eventually bring them up to salaries paid to Santa Rosa firefighters.

Who controls the two stations in use by Rincon Valley and its engines - as well as the funds connected to those operations - remains up in the air.

Regardless, the Rincon Valley district would continue to exist as a shoestring entity, and it would need to keep to keep some of its budget to cover the ongoing cost of pension liabilities, which next year are slated to be about $200,000.

The consultant’s study, costing about $80,000 and due out later this month or in early November, is expected to address many of the key factors affecting the complex deal.

A union of Santa Rosa and Rincon Valley’s firefighting forces is considered by many in the local industry as the natural progression in a lengthy, close-knit relationship that over two decades has included efforts to tightly entwine the two agencies through joint training and interchangeable equipment and firefighting styles.

Rincon Valley’s district practically encircles the city, and the two agencies respond together daily to numerous calls in the county’s most populated area.

Santa Rosa’s much larger agency - taking in ?10 stations and 133 firefighters - assumes the bulk of the response in some of Rincon Valley’s district, a role that has increasingly concerned City Hall, where officials point out that the overlap amounts to a subsidy for fire protection outside city limits.

The city currently gets no reimbursement for its efforts, but a contract with Rincon Valley could eliminate some of that imbalance, Gossner said.

The proposed union comes at a time of close scrutiny for the county’s rural firefighting services. With a year-long county fire services study nearing its end, many fire chiefs are proposing to combine forces with an aim to reduce the county’s 40-plus fire agencies, hoping to save money and improve efficiency without losing firefighting abilities.

Santa Rosa will hold two meetings this week on the Rincon Valley proposal to explain the issues to the public and see what residents have to say.

Rincon Valley firefighters floated the union idea unsuccessfully in 2010. District officials raised it again in spring of 2014 when Rincon Valley and Windsor fire boards were moving toward consolidating their agencies.

That consolidation has stalled, with firefighters from both agencies strongly coming out against a merger, saying the agencies don’t mesh and they want to part ways. They have shared a fire chief and administration for four years.

Veteran Santa Rosa firefighters, engine drivers and captains all make about $25,000 more annually than counterparts in Rincon Valley. Veteran Rincon Valley firefighters, engineers and captains make less than newly hired Santa Rosa counterparts, according to department wage scales.

Top scale Santa Rosa firefighters make $93,780 compared to Rincon Valley’s $67,644. Top scale engineers at Santa Rosa make $103,124 compared to Rincon Valley’s $78,336 and top scale Santa Rosa captains make $118,604 compared to Rincon Valley’s $93,372.

Union leaders for the two agencies said a contract with Santa Rosa would likely include the Rincon Valley firefighters being paid at their current salaries initially, with incremental increases over the years or a shift to the nearest Santa Rosa salary step, which could include an annual raise of about $5,000 to $8,000.