County to pay property insurance lease for DeLuz fire station

The County of San Diego will be making future property insurance payments for the DeLuz fire station.

A 5-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Jan. 23 authorized an amendment to the lease agreement with DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., for the fire station in the 39500 block of Daily Road which allows the county to pay the insurance premiums directly to the insurance carrier.

DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., owns the 1.09-acre parcel and owns half of the fire station building which was expanded in 2013 while the county owns the other half of the building. An April 2011 agreement leased the parcel to the County of San Diego, which allowed the county to expand and renovate the fire station, and the property was then subleased to the fire department for operation of the station.

The sublease was no longer needed when the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority took over operation of the fire station, and on November 2 the county terminated the sublease along with the funding contract which provided DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., revenue to operate the fire station.

Because DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., no longer operates the fire station the requirement for that entity to provide the insurance is obsolete and the termination of the funding contract left DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., without the funding to provide the insurance. The estimated annual cost for the property insurance is $9,000 .Property tax revenue for County Service Area No. 135, which includes the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority, will be used to pay the insurance premiums.

Under the 50-year lease the county pays $1 per year. DeLuz Volunteer Firefighters Association, Inc., paid that same amount for the sublease.