Receive status update on Yolo County Fire Protection Districts Long Term Sustainability Effort. (No general fund impact) (Kim/Sabatini)

Receive status update on Yolo County Fire Protection Districts Long Term Sustainability Effort and provide direction to staff on next steps, if necessary.

Safe Communities  - Outcome #4: Increase sustainability of rural fire protection services.

In 2018 Yolo County staff researched and prepared a report regarding the challenges facing the Yolo County Fire Protection Districts. That report, "Yolo County Fire Protection Districts: A Review of Challenges and Strategic Approaches" is provided as Attachment A to this staff report and was presented to the Board of Supervisors at the July 23, 2019 Board meeting (Item #59).  As a result, the Board directed staff to work with the fire districts to develop a long-term sustainability plan and formed the Yolo County Fire Protection Sustainability Board Ad Hoc Committee for this purpose, consisting of District 3 Supervisor Sandy and District 5 Supervisor Barajas. Representatives of the Yolo County Fire Chiefs Association (YCFCA) are also members of the committee.  The goal of the ad hoc committee is to work collaboratively with the YCFCA to develop a suite of options and implementation strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fire protection services in Yolo County.  The desired outcomes of this effort are as follows: 

• Adequate staffing
• Efficient delivery of public safety services
• Increased % of apparatus under 25 years of age
• Balanced budgets

Yolo County Fire Protection Sustainability Board Ad Hoc Committee
The committee first began meeting in August 2019. Initial efforts included discussions on the scope of work, the gathering and evaluation of data using GIS, and the assessment of baseline operational standards. To assist in these discussions, a survey was provided at a meeting of the YCFCA to gather input from each fire district regarding the operational standards utilized for response times, response personnel, and apparatus replacement. The results of the survey identified the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1720 and 1911 standards as the baseline operational standards utilized by the FPDs. Representatives also conducted a review of FPD stations to survey capacity and capital improvement needs.

In February 2020, the committee met with representatives of Amador and Sonoma counties to learn about their experiences tackling similar challenges of low staffing and high costs of apparatus. The committee subsequently gathered input directly from the Yolo County Fire Chiefs on long term needs for their stations. These meetings occurred over the course of September 2020 and included discussions on potential methods for increasing funding and staffing. Since that time, the group has met to analyze call data and apparatus inventories as well as discuss potential options for long-term sustainability, including various models of paid staffing and governance.  

Challenges to Long-Term Sustainability
It is important to note that the challenges facing Yolo County fire protection districts are not necessarily unique to Yolo County and mirror the challenges being faced in the delivery of fire protection services at both the state and national level.  The Yolo County FPDs are experiencing three significant challenges: the recruitment and retention of volunteers, increases in calls for service, and obtaining sufficient funding to maintain operations.

Staffing
The Yolo County FPDs are experiencing the same decrease in volunteers and increase in service calls seen across the nation and state. The total number of active volunteers, not including paid staff, for all the Yolo County FPDs has steadily decreased. In fact, between 2008 and 2018 volunteers dropped by 29%, an average of 2.9% each year. However, an increase in volunteers was seen in 2019 and 2020. This may be a result of efforts by the FPDs to recruit volunteer personnel and/or an influx of volunteers due to changed circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This experience also varies by district with some, such as Clarksburg FPD, maintaining a relatively stable volunteer base.  Additionally, paid staffing among the FPDs has doubled since 2008. This increase may be a result of decreases in volunteer personnel. Between 2008 and 2020 staffing increased by 6 full time positions and 1.5 part-time positions. This places an increased financial burden on FPDs.  Despite recent increases, the national trend for volunteer firefighters and the overall trend for the past ten years still suggests a continued decline in volunteer staffing in the future.

Service Calls
Service calls have increased for Yolo County FPDs. These include calls for fire, medical and other emergency incidents, including hazardous materials. As reported by each of the Yolo County FPDs, from 2013 to 2020 service calls increased by 52.3% (an average of 7.4% annually). Service calls may have increased more significantly for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, if service calls continue to increase by 7.4% annually over the next ten years that would amount to a 74% increase. In addition, a review of service call data from 2018 and 2019 demonstrated that the vast majority of calls for service are for medical reasons. The increase in service calls coupled with the decrease in volunteers, creates a burden on the FPDs to maintain service levels.

Funding
Another challenge facing FPDs across the country is obtaining sufficient funding to maintain operations. Over the years rising costs for equipment and the need to obtain paid staffing has created a financial strain on FPDs. The largest expense for most is the cost to obtain, maintain and replace apparatus and equipment.
 
The Yolo County Fire Chiefs estimated the cost of a quality fire pumper truck to range from $500,000 to $750,000; with the costs often increasing 3-5% each year. Over the years the prices have risen due to evolving technology and safety standards.  The high costs have led to the use of apparatus past its recommended service life. It should be noted that the age for placing apparatus into reserve status may vary based on the frequency by which apparatus is used. For example, apparatus at an urban city fire department may be used more frequently than apparatus in a rural area. As of 2021 the 11 direct service FPDs have 77 apparatus collectively, of which 21% are at or above 25 years of life and 14% are nearing end of service life within the next 5 years.  The cost to replace all of the apparatus over 25 years of age with a new apparatus amounts to approximately $8.2M. Current reserves are not sufficient among FPDs to cover this cost.
 
Fiscal challenges are also seen in capital improvement needs and maintaining a balanced budget. Out of thirteen stations evaluated among the eleven direct service FPDs (Capay Valley and Willow Oak FPDs each operate two stations in their districts), half needed capital improvements or maintenance. These needs varied in severity and included floor repairs, building repairs and expansions, a new exhaust system and water well, and shower repairs. Additionally, several FPDs in Yolo County have been highlighted as having financial sustainability issues. The 2016 LAFCo MSR identified sustainability concerns with almost half of the FPDs. A recent example was seen with the No Man’s Landing FPD which experienced a FY19-20 budget deficit of $6,000 and a FY20-21 budget deficit of $10,000 that was covered by Yolo County utilizing one-time funding.

Benefit Assessments
Four (4) of the 15 FPDs do not have any benefit assessment established to contribute to their permanent long-term revenues. Those FPDs without any benefit assessment are: Capay Valley FPD, Dunnigan FPD, West Plainfield FPD, and Winters FPD.  In 1988 only two (2) FPDs had a benefit assessment on file: East Davis FPD and Willow Oak FPD.  By 1997, eight (8) FPDs had benefit assessments on file which averaged 36% of total revenue generated for those eight (8) FPDs. 

Six (6) FPDs established a benefit assessment in 1997, however, none have updated or increased their assessments since that time. Significant revenues could be realized by these FPDs updating their benefit assessments.  For example, the 1997 assessments collect $35 per residential parcel per year.  A May 2019 benefit assessment update by the South Placer Fire Protection District generates $229 per residential parcel per year. Using a hypothetical community of about 400 residences, a similar assessment update would generate an additional $76,500 per year in revenue.  Elkhorn FPD appears to have the most recent benefit assessment, established in 2015, which can generate between $65,000 and $92,000 per year. Additional information on benefit assessments and the revenues they derive is provided as Attachment B.

Criteria for Determining Long Term Sustainability

The mutually agreed upon criteria that all potential options for long-term sustainability will be measured against are summarized in the table below.
 

Evaluation Criteria	Metric
Staffing meets NFPA standards	- Sufficient number of staff on-duty/available to respond to service calls within NFPA response times - All staff current on training requirements
Resources maximized and maintained to NFPA standards	- Sustainable funding for maintenance and replacement of apparatus and equipment to NFPA standards - Shared apparatus reserve amongst FPDs where possible
Sufficient funding for operations	- Balanced budgets - Sustainable funding for CIP, PPE, training, and all other operation needs
Cost of proposal is reasonable	Cost and proposed funding source(s) are reasonable and sustainable

Conclusions
As described above there are various factors creating challenges for fire service delivery, both locally and nationally. Chief among these challenges are 1) rising costs and stagnant revenues, 2) a shrinking volunteer labor pool, and 3) increased demands for service. The conclusions described above are consistent with the 2016 LAFCo findings and recommendations: FPDs should reduce costs (including unnecessary apparatus), stabilize staffing, and increase revenues. 

As noted above, the rural fire protection districts provide crucial public safety services for the residents of, and visitors to, unincorporated Yolo County.  In recognition of the vital role these special districts play in ensuring our communities are safe and our residents are thriving, the County should provide assistance to these special districts in the creation and implementation of improvement plans with specified actions and milestones designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of fire protection services. 
 
These factors must be addressed with creative, affordable, effective responses.  The funding gap between existing revenues and desired revenues could be narrowed if cost containing and revenue generating measures were undertaken by the FPDs. These measures could include:

• Updating/creating benefit assessments and development impact fees
• Reduction of apparatus inventory and creation of a shared reserve apparatus program
• Implementation of cost recovery programs
• Exploration of a county-wide sales tax measure for fire protection services

 
Shifting of any ongoing County revenues to fire services should be carefully considered once the FPDs have demonstrated that they have exhausted the resources within their own control. 

Recommended Next Steps – An “Interim Option”
The Yolo Local Agency Formation Commission will undertake the next Municipal Services Review (MSR) for the Yolo County Fire Protection Districts in Fall 2021.  Given the relationship between the charge of the Yolo County Fire Protection Sustainability Board Ad Hoc Committee and the analysis that will be conducted by LAFCo through the course of the MSR, an interim option has been identified. This interim option proposes to set aside some amount of one-time County funds for:

• meeting immediate wildfire season needs,
• implementing best management practices or previous (2106) LAFCo recommendations,
• maximizing revenues, and/or
• creation of FPD Improvement Plans. 

In order to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, the overseeing entity would be comprised of the Yolo County Fire Protection Sustainability Ad Hoc Committee. 

Specifically, this interim option proposes funding of short-term advisory/oversight body to direct one-time County funded investments implement actions that would:
The Committee would direct investments into functions or activities that would achieve one of the listed desired outcomes.  For example, the Committee could choose to invest in a full scope benefit assessment report covering all rural FPDs for use in future Proposition 218 benefit assessment elections, or could choose to contract with an outside third-party entity to provide cost recovery services for all FPDs.  The Committee may look at an array of alternatives and decide on a balanced, multi-pronged approach to increase sustainable revenues, decrease costs, and stabilize staffing.  A list of topics and/or actions that the Committee may wish to explore is provided as Attachment C to this staff report.

Staff has collaborated with the Yolo County Fire Protection Sustainability Board Ad Hoc Subcommittee, the Yolo County Fire Chief's Association, staff from Department of Financial Services and the Yolo County Office of Emergency Services, and several peer jurisdictions.