Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Supervisors approve increase in fire mitigation fees

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 March 21 to approve an increase in fire mitigation fees paid by developers to fund the cost of fire department facilities serving the new development.

The fee for non-agricultural construction is raised from 42 cents per square foot of building floor area to 46 cents per square foot. The 8.32 percent increase rounded to the nearest cent equates to an additional $80 for a 2,000 square foot structure, for which the amount would be raised from $840 to $920.

The new fees will take effect at the July 1 beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year. A first reading and introduction of the ordinance was approved by the Board of Supervisors on March 21, and the ordinance will return for a second reading and adoption April 18. The supervisors’ March 21 action also accepted the Fire Mitigation Fee Review Committee’s annual report and found that the 26 participating fire agencies were in conformance with the County Fire Mitigation Fee Ordinance for Fiscal Year 2005-06.

The county established the Fire Mitigation Fee Program in 1986 to provide funding for fire protection and emergency medical services in the unincorporated communities. Although local fire agencies lack the legal authority to impose mitigation fees on new development, the county collects a fee from building permit applicants on behalf of 20 independent fire protection districts and six County Service Areas with fire protection responsibility. The mitigation fees are distributed quarterly to agency accounts and must be used for capital projects or to purchase firefighting equipment or supplies which will serve new developments. Volunteer fire departments which are not legal special districts do not participate in the Fire Mitigation Fee Program.

The Fire Mitigation Fee Review Committee reviews the annual reports of the participating agencies to confirm that the improvements are necessary to serve new development. The committee members consist of two fire chiefs (currently Bill Metcalf of the North County Fire Protection District and Mark Baker of the Lakeside Fire Protection District), one elected director of a fire protection district (currently Larry Jackman of the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District), and one representative apiece from the Building Industry Association (currently Jerry Livingston), the San Diego County Farm Bureau (currently Scott Lenz of De Luz), the county’s Planning Commission (currently David Kreitzer), the Special Districts section of the county’s Department of Public Works (currently Leslie Seifert), and the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use (currently fire services coordinator Ralph Steinhoff, who is a former North County Fire Protection District fire marshal and deputy fire chief).

The County Fire Mitigation Fee Ordinance allows fee ceilings to be increased or decreased in proportion to changes in the Cost of Construction Index. The ordinance also requires an evaluation of the base fee every five years based upon dividing the average cost in current dollars to construct a fully-equipped fire station within the county’s unincorporated area by the average square footage of structures served by that average fire station. That result becomes the new base fee and was last adjusted in 2006.

The annual adjustment increases the cost of agricultural buildings from 11 cents to 12 cents per square foot, although the fee for agricultural buildings with fire sprinkler systems remains at two cents per square foot and the fee for poultry and greenhouse buildings will remain at one cent per square foot.

The North County Fire Protection District received $221,192.51 of Fire Mitigation Fee Program revenue in Fiscal Year 2005-06 while the Vista Fire Protection District, which includes a portion of Bonsall as well as unincorporated Vista, received $54,264.57. Fiscal Year 2006-07 planned capital expenditures approved by the Fire Mitigation Fee Review Committee include $163,504.10 for an upgrade of Station 3 (Olive Hill) for the North County Fire Protection District. Because the funding is used for capital improvements, it is not required to be spent in a particular fiscal year, and no 2006-07 expenditures are planned for the Vista Fire Protection District.

 

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