News: Bonny Doon independent fire protection district plan

LAFCo staff urges denial of Bonny Doon Fire Plan

Written by Chuck Anderson | Press Banner - link to Original article
Thursday, 18 September 2008

Bonny Doon residents’ hopes of forming an independent fire protection district were dealt a blow last week when Local Agency Formation Commission staff recommended the application be denied.

The commission will have a public hearing Monday, Sept. 22, and will possibly vote on the proposal to form a 49-square-mile district that would remove Bonny Doon from jurisdiction of County Fire and Cal Fire.

“We are very disappointed,” said Tom Scully, president of the Bonny Doon Fire and Rescue Team’s board of directors. “This flies in the face of everything we’ve done over the past three years.”

Bonny Doon’s volunteer firefighters, who fall under supervision of Cal Fire as the county’s fire-service contractor, spearheaded a campaign three years ago to form an independent fire district. The application to LAFCo was accompanied by a petition signed by more than half of the community’s residents.

In his recommendation, LAFCo executive officer Pat McCormick cited the financial problems the county would face if Bonny Doon withdrew from County Fire.

“The residents of all Santa Cruz County communities should receive the highest level of fire and initial emergency response that can be delivered within the available financial resources,” he wrote.

“Based upon the staff’s analysis of all reviewed data, staff believes that this application would result in a lower level of service in the remainder of (County Fire) because the Bonny Doon district formation would result in (County Fire) losing significant revenues but not being able to realize significant reductions in service costs.”

Instead, McCormick suggested several alternatives:

* Urging Cal Fire to move its Felton station to Bonny Doon, providing a paid round-the-clock engine company in Bonny Doon during the summer fire season without needing additional funds.
* Suggesting that the county divide the County Fire area into zones. Within each zone, residents could advocate specific-area improvements that are financed by specific-area levies.
* Asking the county to have an election to increase fees throughout the County Fire area along with additional zone-specific enhancements. (An election to boost County Fire fees was defeated last year.)

Scully, though, was less than thrilled with the report and suggestions.

“The staff report falls very, very short of providing factual information,” Scully said.
“They need a better report than that. I’m really upset that we’re being held accountable for the service in the rest of the county.”