Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
upervisors approved in concept a proposal for the state to reallocate its property tax revenue from the county which would allow for funding of a regional fire protection agency.
The 5-0 vote June 14 supports in concept a reapportionment of the share of property tax dollars collected in the county and directs the county’s Chief Administrative Officer to include the proposal as county-sponsored legislation in the county’s legislative program.
San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission has begun the process to consolidate fire protection and emergency medical service in the unincorporated areas under county jurisdiction. The consolidation will be contingent on obtaining the necessary funding to provide service to the entire area without decreasing the existing level of service for any existing agency area. The total cost to provide the needed improvements, including emergency medical service staffing and equipment, to the currently unserved and underserved areas is estimated at $110 million and a macroanalysis which is part of the LAFCO study will include the validation or refutation of the $110 million cost estimate.
“My proposal before the board today identifies a funding mechanism,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who is also on the LAFCO board and who chairs the county’s Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services. “This proposal would once and for all provide adequate long-term funding.”
The State of California is responsible for providing funding to school districts and must legally provide the amount which is not collected from a county’s property tax revenue. While 63 cents of every property tax dollar in San Diego County is provided to school districts, the statewide average is 52 cents. State legislation would be required to change the formula, and the supervisors’ proposal asks for three cents of each property tax dollar to be reallocated to the county for the regional fire protection agency. Those three cents would be phased in over a three-year period, and when the full amount has been reapportioned the county is expected to have an additional $178.9 million.
The proposal would exempt basic-aid school districts, which receive only property tax revenue, and community college districts. It would also require revenue neutrality for revenue-limit school districts.
“I would not bring forth a proposal that would harm our local schools in any way,” said Jacob, who is a former teacher and who spent 17 years on the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District school board before joining the Board of Supervisors in 1992.
“School funding is a state responsibility,” Jacob said. “Fire protection is a property-related service, exactly what the property tax was designed to fund.”
Although the LAFCO report is not due until December, the support in concept for the proposal allows timely state action. “We cannot afford to wait until that time to initiate this proposal,” Jacob said.
Jacob noted that the issue is not school funding versus fire protection funding but how the property tax revenue from each county is allocated. “When it comes to property taxes we pay, our fire agencies are being short-changed,” she said. “That is not only unfair; it is putting us at risk.”
School interests expressed concern about whether the state would maintain the revenue-neutrality promises. “Our experience with Sacramento is that nothing is guaranteed and nothing is truly binding,” said Barbara Groth, who serves on the San Dieguito Union High School District board of trustees and is the vice-president of the San Diego County School Boards Association. “It’s probably naive to expect Sacramento will make up for any loss.”
Lorene Joosten, a parent who lives in Rancho Bernardo, told the supervisors that 38 of the county’s 42 school districts receive less money per pupil than the statewide average. “I don’t believe consolidation should be funded at the expense of our children’s education,” she said.
Joosten also reminded the supervisors that when the state’s voters passed Proposition 172 in the November 1993 election, the voters were told that the half-cent sales tax for public safety was to be used for fire protection and not just for the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office.
“It would not be revenue-neutral,” Lemon Grove School District superintendent Lane King said of the proposal. “Revenue-limit districts would suffer greatly.”
Thomas Bishop, the superintendent of the Del Mar Union School District, also spoke to the supervisors. “We don’t think it is fair or appropriate to solve the fire district consolidation challenge on the backs of teachers and students,” he said.
Steve McMillan is currently on the board of trustees of the Poway Unified School District, and he has also spent 26 years with the San Diego Police Department. “Funding for education in California is 43rd among the 50 states,” he said. “Your proposal today siphons even more money from our children, and it is appalling.”
Sharon Jones is a California School Boards Association Region 17 director as well as a board member of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. “Education cannot be expected to take any further reduction,” she said.
“We do not receive long-term adequate funding from the state, from the Federal government, or from the county,” said Francine Busby, a trustee of the Cardiff School District.
“I think you’re looking in the wrong place for it,” Busby said. “The firefighters do not want their children’s classrooms to be increased in size.”
Proponents of the proposal agreed that state promises are often not permanent. “I, like a number of speakers before, have concern in that area,” said Richard Monroy, the president of the Deputy District Attorneys’ Association.
“Some step forward has to be taken,” Monroy said. “It is the job of this body to make difficult funding decisions.”
Kevin Crawford, the fire chief of Carlsbad and the president of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association, has previously warned that structural changes in the fire service will be cosmetic unless the
necessary funding source is obtained. “We’re thrilled at that notion,” he said of Jacob’s proposal. “We think it is the tool that’s necessary to ensure that we never live through a fire siege similar to 2003.”
The October 2003 fires destroyed 3,241 structures, including more than 2,400 homes, and 17 lives were lost during the Cedar and Paradise fires.
“Improvement of fire protection in this county is an issue about which there is little disagreement,” said Bill Metcalf, the fire chief of the North County Fire Protection District and the president of the San Diego Fire Districts Association.
Metcalf noted that three steps were necessary for the improvements to occur: LAFCO interest, fire service interest and solid funding.
“It is a proposal to move us forward,” Metcalf said. “It provides an ongoing stable funding source.”
Metcalf acknowledged that the details are still to be finalized, but he noted that the proposal before the board insisted on revenue neutrality. “We have no desire to be pitted against schools as our adversaries,” he said.
“It is incumbent upon this board to realize that the issue is not the funding of schools and fire. It’s the correction of a perpetuated inequity,” said Larry Jackman, who is on the board of the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District.
“It’s not schools. It’s not necessarily the fire. It’s the correction of a long-established inequity,” Jackman said. “It’s about time that our county stood up.”
Campo resident Bev Esry noted that a new Lake Morena fire station is often unstaffed, and during one such occasion a house across from the fire station burned to the ground.
“What more important thing can you as the governing board give us but fire protection?” Esry said.
“Fire protection is a responsibility of the board,” said California Department of Forestry firefighter Tom Gardner. “It’s time that we find a funding source to get this money forward. We have to start somewhere.”
Fire protection is not currently the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors, although they would have the responsibility for a county fire department.
“We do need the protection,” said John Long, the chair of the Lake Morena Village Council. “We need the help.”
Larry Urdahl is a resident of Alpine and is on the board of the Grossmont Union High School District. “We all know that the State of California does not have a revenue problem. The State of California has a spending problem and lacks the ability to properly prioritize,” he said.
During the Cedar fire in 2003, 191 Grossmont Union High School District students and 30 district teachers lost their homes. “I support any and everything that would enhance the educational experience of our students and the health and safety of our taxpayers,” Urdahl said. “We cannot achieve anything if we’re fighting amongst ourselves, but together, working together, anything is possible.”
Roger Challberg, who lives in Campo, spent 40 years as a teacher and administrator. “Funds are needed,” he said.
Challberg is also involved with the Campo Volunteer Fire Department. “I really feel if her proposal goes forward there are enough built-in guarantees,” he said.
“The Deputy Sheriffs Association would never support any measure that’s going to harm our kids,” said Jim Duffy, the president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
The deputy sheriffs work with the fire departments and need to know the firefighters’ training and responses. “There has to be a consistent county fire entity,” Duffy said.
Duffy noted that existing local funds would not be sufficient for improved service. “There just simply is not enough public safety dollars to go around,” he said.
“The proposed plan is a great first start,” said Lisa Briggs of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. “We need to investigate this fully.”
Briggs reminded the supervisors that the San Diego Taxpayers Association also supports the consolidation which the supervisors also believe must move forward. “That’s the goal that we need to keep driving towards,” she said.
“We know what the basic problem is,” said Michael Thometz of Campo.
“We need this done,” Thometz said. “We need a consolidated cohesive department that’s well-coordinated.”
Thometz doesn’t believe that the school districts are more underfunded than the fire service. “What good is having a school if you don’t have it standing to educate the kids?” he said.
“This is certainly a step in the right direction,” said former North County Fire Protection District fire chief Andy Vanderlaan.
Vanderlaan is also a member of the LAFCO board and is the vice-chair of the Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services. He knows the difficulty of obtaining state approvals. “It is a delicate and sensitive issue,” he said.
Vanderlaan also noted that the consolidation must improve all communities and not improve some communities at the expense of others. “It has to be a win-win situation for the fire service,” he said.
“I understand some of the problems with the state,” Jacob said.
The support in concept and the clause requiring revenue neutrality are intended to prevent adversely affecting the schools. “This proposal will not hurt our schools,” Jacob said. “I want to make certain in the legislation it’s very clear that local schools will be revenue-neutral.”
Jacob noted that not all of the causes of school funding shortages are due to state cuts. “Many of our school districts are facing declining enrollment, which means they are getting less money,” she said.
In 1992 the state took money from special districts for the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF). “Over the last 13 years $66 million has been shifted from fire agencies in the unincorporated areas to our local schools,” Jacob said.
Jacob noted that while the money in theory was supposed to be transferred to local schools, the state rather than school districts received the benefit of the shift. “It’s the state that wins or loses as the result of a property tax shift,” she said.
“They stiffed the schools and the county. The state benefited from the money and then never paid it back,” Supervisor Bill Horn said of ERAF.
Horn places part of the blame for the 2003 fires on ERAF. “We were not as prepared as we could have been because all that money was shifted away from us,” he said.
“The schools are going to be held harmless with this proposal,” Horn said. “I think that Dianne’s solution here is a viable solution. It’s going to be tough to get it passed in Sacramento, but I still think we ought to try.”
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