Fire officials say extra $11 million a year needed to shore up services in Sonoma County

It would take about $11 million annually to fill gaping holes in firefighting needs and budgets throughout Sonoma County, according to about three dozen fire officials working on a funding request to the county’s Board of Supervisors.

The tally comes 14 months into a study ordered by the county to see if the current complex - some say antiquated - system of more than 40 fire agencies could be reconfigured to improve sustainability and save taxpayer money. Many of the fire agencies are struggling financially and facing a dwindling volunteer force, prompting chiefs to say they need more money and support to maintain or improve services.

“It will shore up a lot of people’s budgets,” Gold Ridge Fire Chief Dan George said of the extra money, noting that it would support larger stipends to recruit and retain volunteers.

The $11 million included $800,000 to cover annual dispatch costs and about $8 million to recover taxpayer funds that have been shifted to other uses, including education.

The figure emerged this week from a meeting of fire officials tasked with advising the Board of Supervisors on a potential path forward in reshaping services countywide. At issue throughout the talks has been the shortfall in funding that fire leaders say is impacting their departments.

“I’m encouraged to see they’re finally talking about money,” said Brian Elliott, retired Cloverdale fire chief who now works as a private consultant for fire agencies, including several aiming to consolidate, annex territory or form an independent district.

The advisory group plans to meet once more to prioritize various needs before giving the funding request to the supervisors in mid-November.

The request comes amid a broader push to increase spending on an array of public services now that the county’s budget has rebounded following the recession. Labor groups are pressing for pay and benefit gains at the bargaining table and even the county’s elected sheriff, Steve Freitas, posted a call this week for salary and spending increases for his department.

Firefighters are eager to ensure they do not lose out in the scrum.

“We need to ask for more because of all of the competition from everybody who wants something - living wage, the sheriff, we’re all trying to get that dollar,” George said.

The county historically pays nothing from its general fund for firefighting, although it oversees 14 volunteer fire companies providing services in about 600 square miles of the unincorporated county. The fire services budget comes mainly from property taxes paid by landowners.

Supervisors of late have signaled an apparent willingness to step up that financial commitment, setting aside almost $1 million in one-time funds this summer. They tied that money to the completion of the fire-services study.

At a Nov. 11 meeting, the advisory committee plans to hone its financial request and then take on the study’s main goal - choosing a plan to better organize the county fire network. That proposal also will be given to supervisors.

Options in the mix include getting more money but maintaining the status quo or forming regional fire agencies through outright mergers or sharing administrations, equipment and volunteers. The other options are to work toward a single countywide fire agency or to hire Cal Fire to oversee firefighting in the rural areas currently covered by volunteer companies.

Ernie Loveless, Schell-Vista fire board president and a retired Cal Fire chief, said Thursday he would have liked to see the organizational plan come ahead of the money conversation, as different plans require different funding.

“They should figure out the government they want before you divvy up the money,” he said.

He added that he hoped the final recommendation would move away from the status quo.

“Everybody agrees there are too many fire agencies in Sonoma County and that needs to be narrowed down,” Loveless said. “Just throwing money at it is not going to fix it.”

The county’s study, conducted by Assistant County Administrator Chris Thomas, has been subject to extensive criticism throughout the year from fire officials who called it unwieldy and slow-going. It included a request for years of data from each agency that at this point hasn’t been fully analyzed.

Thomas has run the study and advisory meetings with an aim toward including all ideas and participants. That included an eleventh-hour request to Cal Fire for a proposal on how much it would cost the state agency to cover firefighting in the county’s volunteer jurisdictions. The response came only this week, when the fire officials were due to vote on a final recommendation.

Cal Fire Division Chief Todd Derum told the advisory board “we’re not shopping for work,” but that the state agency was willing to work with the county if it wanted to pursue that option. In the short-time frame, Derum submitted what he said were very rough cost estimates, including $4.7 million annually for 15 full-time firefighters as well as supervising fire officials and fire marshals.

The county currently pays $4.1 million to have its Department of Fire Services oversee 14 volunteer fire companies, which have about 150 active volunteers. That budget includes several paid administrators and no paid firefighters. The administrators have duties outside of the firefighting budget.

A handoff to Cal Fire could gut the county’s fire department and put the volunteer corps in limbo, and as such that option has generated strong opinions within the various fire constituencies.

Al Terrell, the county’s fire chief, said he believed a Cal Fire contract would be too expensive once all of the costs were calculated.

“Give me the money and I can hire firefighters,” he said.

But Loveless, the Schell-Vista board member and retired Cal Fire chief, said the Cal Fire contract would enhance service. Fire officials also said they saw opportunities within that path to incorporate the volunteer companies.

Whichever option emerges, it needs to be more sustainable than the present arrangement, said Marilyn Bordessa, a board member for the Lakeville volunteer company and a member of the advisory committee.

Like most of the volunteer stations, Lakeville’s company, which covers a sprawling area south of Petaluma, is struggling to survive on pancake breakfasts and other fundraisers along with the money provided by the county.

“Times are changing. We need to find a path for the future,” Bordessa said. “We’re out of time.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rossmannreport.