Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Fire district consolidation could remove incorporation obstacle

If administrative consolidatio n of the county’s fire protection districts occurs, it could have an effect on another possible reorganization process.

Although issues such as funding and standards will need to be settled before an administrative consolidation can proceed, a county fire department would remove one major obstacle to incorporation of Fallbrook and Spring Valley as cities.

If Fallbrook or Spring Valley were to incorporate, remnants of the existing fire protection districts would be necessary to provide coverage to the areas within the fire district but not within the city boundaries. In the case of the North County Fire Protection District, a City of Fallbrook Fire Department could leave Bonsall and Rainbow with a smaller fire protection district to cover the areas not part of the incorporation. In the case of a Spring Valley incorporation, the San Miguel Fire Protection District would still be needed to serve Mount Helix and Rancho San Diego.

“As part of incorporation, we would try to reconcile the fire district boundary issues,” said Mike Ott, the executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commissio n.

LAFCO handles jurisdictional changes including consolidations, dissolutions, detachments, annexations, and city incorporations. LAFCO will process the proposed fire district consolidation as well as any future incorporation proposals. “Which would mean that it’s possible that if the areas would incorporate that the consolidated fire district would continue to serve that area,” Ott said. “That would be a decision LAFCO would have to make.”

If a consolidation of fire districts took effect, an incorporation review would determine whether a new city would continue to be served by the consolidated department or whether that area would be detached from the consolidated fire district and fire service provided by a city fire department. Any area not covered by the incorporation would continue to be served by the consolidated department.

The elimination of that obstacle to incorporation makes potential cityhood somewhat easier, although other issues weigh more heavily. “Fiscal feasibility is the number one issue, and in terms of how service would be structured within the community, that would include an evaluation of all services, including fire protection,” Ott said. “Fiscal feasibility, everything flows from there.”

The fire protection component of a potential incorporation would be determined by fiscal feasibility, Ott explained.

Another obstacle to incorporation is the state’s revenue neutrality law; if county revenue from sources such as property and sales taxes exceed the cost of services provided to the new city, the city would be required to reimburse the county for lost revenue. “Revenue neutrality, the overall economic condition in the community whether it be Spring Valley or Fallbrook,” Ott said, “always plays an important role.”

 

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