LAFCO approves San Diego County Fire Protection District

San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission approved the creation of the San Diego County Fire Protection District.

LAFCO's board voted 8-Oct. 0 5 to remove the fire protection and emergency services latent powers from County Service Area No. 135, the San Diego County Regional Communications System, and to create a separate fire protection district.

"I'm impressed," said LAFCO executive officer Keene Simonds. "There was no pushback."

Although nobody spoke in opposition or submitted written comment against the separation of the two services, LAFCO law requires a protest hearing to be held for a governmental reorganization. That protest hearing will take place Nov. 6 outside the LAFCO office in San Diego. If sufficient protest signatures have not been submitted the final step will be to have the reorganization recorded. Simonds expects the necessary prerequisites to be completed by December, although if the affected agencies prefer a Jan. 1 effective date the completion of the reorganization will take effect at the beginning of the calendar year.

County Service Area No. 135 was formed in 1994 and covers the entire unincorporated area of the county as well as several incorporated cities who have joined the 800 MHz communications system which allows emergency and public safety agencies to communicate with one another.

When the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and LAFCO created the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority in 2008 latent powers for fire protection and emergency medical services were authorized within a zone of CSA No. 135 so that the SDCRFA could be created without the process of forming a new district.

The creation brought territory not within the boundaries of a public agency but served by a volunteer fire department into the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority. In 2011, five county service areas responsible for fire protection and emergency medical services were consolidated into the SDCRFA.

The first fire protection districts to be dissolved and added to the SDCRFA boundaries were the Pine Valley and San Diego Rural districts, whose addition to the SDCRFA was approved in 2015. The Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District board supported a consolidation and despite some public opposition that area became part of the SDCRFA in 2019.

Last year's actions also included removing the fire protection and emergency medical services latent powers from the Mootamai, Pauma, and Yuima water districts in Pauma Valley and making those areas part of the SDCRFA. The current territory of the fire service area is nearly 1.6 million acres and the estimated population is 50,476 including 24,474 registered voters.

A municipal service review evaluates an area's services and anticipated needs, and a sphere of influence study determines the boundaries best served by a particular agency. Both are prerequisites to any jurisdictional change other than an annexation of land within the existing sphere of influence, and LAFCO also conducts periodic municipal service review and sphere of influence updates for all cities and special districts.

On May 4, the LAFCO board considered a municipal service review for CSA No. 135 which was based on the periodic update calendar rather than on any annexation proposal, and an 8-0 vote approved the update including support for a recommendation that the SDCRFA be separated from the San Diego County Regional Communications System.

LAFCO's June 1 meeting included an 8-0 vote to set separate spheres of influences for the RCS and the SDCRFA. The LAFCO board can waive processing fees to incentivize a reorganization, and the board did that for the separation of the two CSA No. 135 functions.

On June 2, the board of supervisors voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution to initiate LAFCO proceedings to create the separate fire protection district and remove the latent powers from the County Service Area No. 135. "With the county coming forward with the proposal it just seemed to make sense," Simonds said.

The requirements for a reorganization include a property tax transfer resolution in which property tax revenue from the detached or dissolved territory is transferred to the agency which adds that territory. The county currently commits annual funding to the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority, and that funding was designated as the revenue for the new agency. "That amount will now be dedicated to the new fire protection district," Simonds said.

The current annual amount spent on the SDCRFA is approximately $1.3 million. That figure is from property tax revenue only and does not include any grant awards.

The creation of a separate district means that the fire protection agency is no longer within a zone of a larger district. "It will have a stand-alone boundary," Simonds said.

The new agency's legal designation as a fire protection district will ensure that the agency's functions match its formal status. "It improves the governance connectivity," Simonds said.

In the November 2018 election, the county's voters amended the county charter to make fire and emergency medical services a designated county service, and the new agency reflects that. "Fire protection is now a committed service," Simonds said.

A fire protection district may include portions or even the entirety of an incorporated city, so if a city wishes to contract with the SDCRFA the regional agency could provide the coverage.

LAFCO staff conducted an analysis including public outreach before recommending approval of the separation of functions. "This is a very good thing. That's why it got such a strong recommendation from LAFCO staff," Simonds said.

The San Diego County Fire Protection District will be a dependent special district, meaning that the board of supervisors will be the board members. A dependent special district can have an advisory board with local residents (or first responders) and, as part of the consolidation process for the Pine Valley and San Diego Rural districts, the board of supervisors created the CSA No. 135 Fire Advisory Board in October 2014.

In 1999 LAFCO created the Task Force on Fire Protection Services Funding, which became unnecessary following the county's commitment to fire protection and emergency medical service. The activities of the task force included creating a detailed map providing response times to all locations. Simonds noted that the creation of the separate fire protection district allows for an update of that response service. "It's an opportunity for us to map out the next 10 to 15 year window," he said.