A Fire District on Edge

  On November 7, 2012, the day following the election, drivers passing the fire station in downtown Cotati were greeted by a large banner: Fire Station Closed Today Due to Budget Crisis. For Emergencies Call 911. The sign was a response to the failure of Measure Z, a $60 parcel tax the rural fire protection district was counting on to bolster its revenues, which have declined over the past five years. The measure failed to receive the needed 66 percent of the vote, prompting the district to begin rotating closures at its three stations. The closures have been evenly spread despite the fact that nearly 90 percent of calls originate near either the downtown Cotati or downtown Penngrove stations, according to a Patch analysis. The firehouse on Liberty and Pepper Road, for example, received just 143 calls out of more than 1,800 the agency handled that year. More than 55 percent of calls came from the area surrounding Station 1 in Cotati, while another 33 percent came from the area around Station 2 in Penngrove. That's made some to wonder if residents would be better served by having these two stations open on a more regular basis. "We all want the best and most efficient use of community resources, but from a community perspective, it would seem station closures should be based on call volume," said Cotati Mayor Mark Landman and a retired battalion chief with the Novato Fire Department. "But everybody’s having a rough time these days and I sympathize with them."    Rancho Adobe Chief Frank Treanor defends the so-called "rolling brownouts" as the fairest solution for all residents, including the 8,500 people who live in West Cotati serviced by Station 3. He tells a story about a man who suffered a heart attack while cycling on Meecham Road and was saved by Rancho firefighters who responded to the scene within three minutes. “They were able to get there and put a defibulator on him and bring him back to life,” Treanor said. “I don’t like to play Russian roulette. That’s why I want to have all of these firehouses open.” Rancho Adobe has already saved $150,000 since the rotating closures began. But the district still has a long way to go before it bounces back to full fiscal health, since declining property taxes (the fire protection’s main source of revenue) have forced it to dip into reserves over the past three years. The district currently faces a $387,000 deficit and could become bankrupt unless property values increase over the next couple of years. “We have probably two years left,” said Treanor, adding that the agency will have only $600,000 in reserves come next month. Lean Operation It’s tempting to say Rancho is mismanaging resources. But it’s actually one of the leanest around, paying an average 22 percent less in salary and offering firefighters only 2 percent (of the highest paid year) multiplied by the number of years worked when they turn 50. Most other fire departments offer 3 percent at 50. Rancho also offers a health savings account plan for its employees, which according to Treanor, has already saved them $200,000 over the past three years. That, together with a low-interest the district procured to buy two water tenders (fire trucks with water for rural areas without hydrants) landed Rancho a Spencer Flournoy Award from the Sonoma County Taxpayers’ Association last year. “We’ve done everything we can to keep the costs down,” Treanor said. “The issue is not that we’re spending too much, it’s that we’re not taking in enough money.” Treanor says the measure's success was hampered by a new statewide Fire Prevention Fee imposed on all California residents starting July 2011. “People were getting bills from the state right at the same time they were being asked to vote on this measure," he said. Merging to Save Costs Another option is for Rancho Adobe to merge with a nearby fire department, such as Petaluma, something Petaluma Fire Chief Larry Anderson says he would not be opposed to. “There is a benefit to doing management consolidation,” Anderson said. “We could share the fire marshal or fire inspectors, and they win and we win because we share a management resource. A lot of organizations start out doing a management partnership and eventually merge.” One recent example is the 2011 merger of Rincon Valley and Windsor fire districts following then Chief Ron Collier’s retirement. Both agencies kept their names, budgets, but share a chief, creating a savings of $100,000 a year. Anderson says the city of Petaluma is interested in a potential merger with Rancho Adobe and has put the issue on its list of priorities at the council goal setting session earlier this year. “We’re interested, but we also don’t want to tell them what to do,” Anderson said. Have you been impacted by Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District’s rolling closures? Should there be one station that's always open? Or is a merger between Rancho and a nearby agency a better solution? Like Rohnert Park-Cotati Patch on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. And sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter. Have an opinion about what’s going on? Share it with a blog.