Zaitz asks County Board of Supervisors for new approach to providing fire services

Representatives from Canyon Lake continue to press forward at the county level on the rising costs of public safety. On March 9, Councilman John Zaitz made an impassioned plea at a meeting of the California League of Cities to band together and let Sacramento legislators know that the current approach with pensions and contract negotiations will soon bankrupt many California cities.

Fellow Councilman Tim Brown said afterward, “I took a lot of heat voting for John into office, but after last night’s meeting, I’m sure I did the right thing. He is certainly the right man for this job at this time.” John made the same plea during public comments at a meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on March 10.

John says he later spoke with Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who told him the other supervisors didn’t have anything negative to say about the presentation and understand that many cities are facing similar budget problems.

John shared contents of his presentation with The Friday Flyer as follows:

“I happen to be a council member of the City of Canyon Lake, but I am not here speaking for Canyon Lake. I have served with many of you and have great respect for you and what you do.

“My concern is the County’s fire contract with Cal Fire. As you know, Canyon Lake has had difficulty in meeting the costs of the city’s fire contract. We have been taking $700,000 out of reserves since 2010 to meet the contractual requirements.

“Since the economic collapse of 2008, we all had to make cutbacks and look at what we were doing to reduce costs.

“One of the things that did not change is Fire. While we need and love what they do for us, there is a need to look at what they are doing and see if the model fits todays need. Thanks to Lake Elsinore and others, the model will be looked at in the next 12 months. Unfortunately for us and many others this may be too little and too late.

“In a Partners meeting, we were told by County Fire that the cost of service to Canyon Lake will go up 8.85 percent or 15.2 percent in July.

“We know and you know the model is wrong and has been wrong for years. Canyon Lake only has 10 fires a year – 85 percent of all calls are for medical emergencies. That is probably consistent with most cities and county fire stations. The cost per call for Canyon Lake is $2,000 per call and that can be raised by $200 to over $300 more in the next year.

“There has been a big decline in outdoor fires in towns and cities, which has to do with stricter fire codes, better enforcement of them.

“When you hear a fire engine’s siren or see one speeding down the street, it’s probably responding to a medical call, in addition to an ambulance that’s heading to the same spot. Interestingly, there’s actually a better chance it’s responding to a false alarm than an actual fire. [pullquote]Some people think that dispatching huge trucks loaded with firefighters to respond to every medical call made to 911 is not an ideal situation.[/pullquote]

“The City of San Jacinto has had to close a station. Hemet, while they have their own fire department, opened an additional station with a fire EMS squad to handle the gap in response time. The fire chief made that decision, which was not an easy one, because he wanted to do the right thing for the right reason. Hemet is looking into the model and will have an answer in 90 to 120 days – not like the year it will take in the County.

“Fire stations and fire fighters on trucks continue to grow, which has more to do with their strong unions than their usefulness. This ends up being expensive for taxpayers.

“What is a proper model is medical aid with appropriate time requirements at a rate that is driven by the market. Fire service that is appropriate for the call volume.

“You cannot negotiate the fire contract with the Unions so you are also left at their mercy.

“But there is something that you can and should do immediately. That is to lift the County requirement for 3-man units and allow highly trained reserves to be used to help reduce costs. The County should not dictate to the cities what their requirements are, but the standards that need to be met.

If you did this you could immediately impact all costs. This will enable cities and even the County to contract for services competitively and find ways to reduce expenses where possible.

 




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