Combined district would take over Fitch Mountain, west rural Healdsburg areas
Over the last five years there have been five major wildfires in north Sonoma County, pointing to the need for raised alerts, increased emergency preparations and augmented firefighting resources, personnel and coordination. Even before that, it has been widely accepted that fire prevention and protection services have been woefully underfunded.
For well more than those recent five years, fire volunteers, local chiefs, community leaders and others have been pleading with county officials to better support north county taxpayers’ self-assessments and voluntary donations to avert future disasters and to bolster fire and emergency safety services. Now, the spate of annual wildfires is being called a “game changer.”
“These fires have literally singed our minds and souls and our properties,” said Geyserville area resident Walt Kieser, a professional land use planner and economist. “We need to raise (fire prevention) services to a reasonable level and have all the currently available funds, plus others, dedicated to this concern.”
Kieser and leaders of Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District won the support of county staff at the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on March 3 that affirmed the district’s level of services and sphere of influence. The Cloverdale Fire Protection District that currently shares services and leadership under a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) agreement also supported the presentation.
The LAFCO opinion clears the way for the Cloverdale and North County (Geyserville) districts to increase consolidation. It also endorses a transfer of primary fire protection in three unincorporated areas, now managed by the county government but with fire services contracted to other agencies. These include the Geysers, Fitch Mountain and Sotoyome (Mill Creek and Westside road areas.)
The city of Healdsburg is not part of any consolidation talks now underway, although the city provides first response services to Fitch Mountain and Sotoyome under contracts with the county. If Northern Sonoma County Fire takes over primary responsibility of Fitch Mountain and Sotoyome, it hopes to continue the city of Healdsburg contracts, but with added funding allocations from the county.
Funding fire agencies
The biggest element of the wildfire “game changer” is the tough-learned lesson that more vegetation management and emergency preparations are needed at significantly increased costs. Currently, the bulk of collected special and property taxes in the Fitch Mountain, Geysers and Sotoyome districts are not being returned to local fire services, but retained for countywide fire services where all districts face similar under-funding issues.
All parts of the county and local fire agencies lack adequate funding, but Northern Sonoma County Fire volunteer Paul Bernier claims the north county has much greater fire protection needs than most other parts of the county.
“When is the last time you saw a green pasture burn like they have all over the south county (Petaluma)? We have the wildlands, steep terrain and vegetation that makes our fire dangers the worst,” said Bernier, who supports increased funding by the county.
The Northern Sonoma County Fire’s LAFCO presentation outlined a current firefighting budget in north county (minus the city of Healdsburg) at just over $2 million, but outlined a need for $5 million. “We need all the money now being collected for essential fire services — and then some to do the right job,” said Fred Peterson, president of the Northern Sonoma County Fire board.
The LAFCO staff report pointed out a longstanding refusal by county officials to increase fire safety funding allocations in the small special districts like Fitch Mountain, Sotoyome and the Geysers.
“The county takes the position that a strict ‘return to source’ tax allocation model is untenable given the need to provide sufficient services throughout the remaining unincorporated areas in the county. The positions taken by the county and the subject agencies are opposed in a fundamental way,” the LAFCO report reads. “To date, despite extensive talks over several years, there has been little evidence that an accommodation can be reached.”
Any funding level changes are the sole decision of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, confirmed Mark Bramfitt, LAFCO’s executive director. “They’re basically the judge and jury on this one,” he said.
Last year, the Board of Supervisors and fire agencies sought a $25 million annual sales tax proposal (Measure G) that failed at the ballot box. The same officials are now considering a similar sales tax increase ballot measure, possibly in June 2022.
“We’re asking the county to let our taxpayers get 100% of the fire funding they currently pay for,” said Peterson. “The county needs to follow its service obligation and fund these mandatory critical needs. We’re going to need even more money in the future and more recurring funds.”
By example, the residents of Fitch Mountain in 2019 paid $203,072 in property taxes earmarked for fire safety services. But the county only paid the city of Healdsburg $41,697 for fire and emergency response services. Northern Sonoma County Fire wants to increase services to Fitch Mountain residents and have the county return more tax funds to the district to do so.
“We’ve had discussions with Healdsburg,” said Northern Sonoma County Fire Chief Marshall Turbeville, “And what we want to do is avoid a Kincade Fire-type scenario. We need to build defensible spaces around all the (Fitch Mountain) properties and keep wildfires on the top of the mountain from spreading down into houses and to stop structure fires from igniting brush and getting into the tree canopy. I call it putting a bathtub ring around the mountain.”
Similar tax collection and funding gaps exist in the Geysers and Sotoyome areas, too.
Rural residents of the Sotoyome area paid $408,819 in taxes earmarked for essential fire services in 2019. That year, the city of Healdsburg was paid $119,532 by the county, which rationalized it needed the remainder of collected funds to support central administration, coordination and staffing needs elsewhere.
The county contracts for emergency and fire protection services with Northern Sonoma County Fire for coverage of the Geysers territory. It pays a “per response” fee that totaled less than $10,000 in 2019. For the same period, the county collected $770,617 in fire-designated property tax portions.
By contrast, the Cloverdale Fire Protection District in 2019 collected $619,794 in fire-designated taxes and spent the entire portion on local fire services. Cloverdale District residents also pay an $88 parcel tax each year to supplement fire services in the district that extends beyond city of Cloverdale city limits.
The Northern Sonoma County Fire District in 2019 collected $1,047,560 in fire-designated taxes (a portion of individual property tax assessments.) All of the funds were spent within the fire district on fire prevention, emergency response and firefighting services. Citizen donations and fund raising efforts by the Geyserville Volunteers Firefighters Association provided additional funding.
“Our community has been very generous,” said Peterson. “It’s been overwhelming and it is a response to the wildfires, we know.”
The extra money has allowed Northern Sonoma County Fire to boost its training, community education and some equipment replacement, Peterson said.
