Eight rural El Dorado County fire districts will seek financial or organizational alternatives to support their services after the Board of Supervisors voted to end aid from county coffers.
Faced with declining revenues that have led to layoffs and program cuts, county officials said they could no longer contribute approximately $1.3 million a year to fire districts.
The aid was intended to assist districts that serve large rural areas whose tax base is lower than those of more urbanized fire districts.
Affected are the Garden Valley, Georgetown, Latrobe, Mosquito, Pioneer and Rescue districts on the west slope, and Fallen Leaf and Meeks Bay near South Lake Tahoe.
The loss won't be immediate. The districts will share $964,810 in trust funds from the county, and the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to contribute $335,537 from the county's general fund in 2009-10 to match the 2008-09 funding level of $1.3 million.
Of that total, up to $100,000 will be used to hire a fire service consultant to review options including potential consolidation among the 13 independent fire agencies.
"We need someone to provide an unbiased opinion and recommendation for fire service in El Dorado County so we can put these issues to rest once and for all," said Ronald Grassi, the county's assistant chief administrative officer.
The 2007-08 El Dorado County grand jury argued that subsidizing the county's small rural districts through the general fund was unfair to taxpayers in other districts who support their own fire protection services through taxes. The jurors recommended ending supplemental funding and encouraging consolidation with larger districts.
Tom Keating, Rescue Fire Protection District chief and president of the county Fire Chiefs Association, said the fire chiefs favor bringing in an independent expert.
"The issue of consolidation is tossed around as the way to fix everything," he said. "Well, let's find out."
The El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission, which rules on government reorganizations, will secure the consultant and oversee the work.
Supervisor Jack Sweeney said the study would be of no value unless the recommendations get serious consideration by the fire district boards, whose constituents often fear the loss of local control and community identity.
Rescue district voters in 2003 overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to join with the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, but Keating said the district board supports a fire service study.
"There may be areas where we can improve if we consolidate or not," he said.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.
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