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Should Bennett Valley Fire District Be Annexed Into Windsor Fire District?
By Marilee Jensen, Bennett Ridge Resident, 9/6/18
Summary of Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) Study,
August 2018
Subject Agencies: Windsor Fire Protection District, Rincon Valley Fire Protection District, Bennett Valley Fire Protection District and a County Service Area #40, known as Mountain Volunteer Fire Department (Mountain VFD) , just east of Windsor FPD.
Through out Sonoma County, fire and emergency services have been discussing regional consolidation programs to determine if it would best serve their communities. For this study, LAFCO is proposing that any reorganization of a subject agency would include changes to the fire district's boundaries, then dissolution of that district followed by annexation into a regional fire district. In order to accommodate differing taxation structures, particularly parcel tax rates, the preferred means to "consolidate" special districts involves this "dissolution/ annexation" process.
This particular study has been prepared at the request of Windsor FPD and Rincon Valley FPD. Bennett Valley FPD and the CSA 40 (Mountain VPD) did not request this study but agreed to be included as possible "subject agencies." This study proposes approval of this plan by the Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission so that the sphere of influence for the Windsor FPD can be expanded beyond their own district to possibly include the territories in the Rincon Valley FPD, in the Mountain VFD and perhaps in the Bennett Valley FPD.
This study includes descriptions of these four subject agencies, that is Windsor FPD, Rincon Valley FPD, Bennett Valley FPD and Mountain VPD, with further explanation of particular issues which the Commission felt needed to be considered. These included the year each district was formed, their population numbers, the area each district includes, their tax allocation rates, and their parcel tax amounts, as approved by the voters in that particular district. It also explains the fire losses each of
these districts experienced in October, 2017, their mutual aid agreements with other local fire districts, their types of emergency calls and their response times. In this report, as of 2017, their response times were reported as follows:
- Windsor FPD - 5 minutes, 15 sec.
- Rincon Valley FPD - 6 minutes, 2 sec.
- Bennett Valley FPD - 10 minutes, 23 sec.
- Mountain VPD - 14 minutes, 22 sec.
Other information described in this report include fire station needs, volunteer numbers and needs, and their financial abilities.
All three of these Fire Protection Districts undergo annual financial audits and change auditors regularly. The Board of Directors for each of these subject agencies have been elected and/or appointed appropriately. The conclusion reached is that all three of these FPDs comply with all applicable statutes & laws and are fully open to community input. The study states you can get all the pertinent information about the Windsor FPD and Rincon Valley FPD from their websites, but the Bennett Valley FPD website is not up to date.
If these four subject agencies are to consolidate in the future, modest cost savings could accrue from further sharing of their leadership and administration personnel, the elimination of redundant staffing, and streamlined administrative support. At the same time, the subject agencies are all likely to experience financial difficulty in maintaining their existing levels of service, without regard to whether or not regional consolidation is pursued. Whether or not these four subject agencies petition LAFCO for reorganization into one regional district, other sources of additional revenue must be secured to ensure ongoing services by all four of these subject agencies.
Regional Agency Consolidation
LAFCO staff believe this Region, referred to as Region 7, covering the central portion of Sonoma County, remains at the forefront of possible regionalization action, partly due to the existing operational coordination between Windsor and Rincon Valley FPDs, which currently share their Fire Chief, Mark Heine and their administrative staff. These two districts continue to do their finances separately.
The study states that when Windsor FPD and Rincon Valley FPD recently responded to a request from County Fire and Emergency Services to provide an estimate of the cost to serve the Mountain VPD territory, their bid was approximately $250,000 a year. That included staffing this station with a firefighter during weekday daytime hours when it is more difficult to get volunteers. The Mountain VPD currently has no parcel tax, but receives $40,000 a year in property tax allocations.
According to this LAFCO study, it is not apparent that the Bennett Valley FPD is actively considering joining a regional consolidation effort at this time, but from a regional perspective, LAFCO staff conclude that the Bennett Valley FPD is best positioned to join the other three subject agencies rather than any other new regional agency. (It is unknown if LAFCO has evaluated other possible new regional agencies for the Bennett Valley FPD.)
The Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission conducted a public hearing on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 in regards to the consideration of approving the recommendations of LAFCO staff, as described in this study. During the public hearing, after LAFCO staff discussed the report in detail, the presidents of the Board of Directors for Windsor FPD, Rincon Valley FPD and the Mountain VPD expressed support for this potential consolidation, as did Jim Colangelo, Interim Director, Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services. For Bennett Valley FPD, one firefighter, Andrew Tognozzi, President of the Bennett Valley Professional Firefighters Association, expressed support for this proposal. Mark Heine, the Fire Chief for both Windsor FPD and Rincon Valley FPD, also expressed support for this consolidation proposal, and explained why they want to complete it by December 1st, if possible, for the changed property tax determinations which would be needed for each approved subject agency.
At this meeting on September 5, 2018, a motion was made and approved by all of the Commission members present to approve this amendment to the sphere of influence for Windsor FPD. To complete the consolidation, each of the Board of Directors for each of the four subject agencies would have to approve this change for their subject agency and then the Sonoma Local Agency Formation Commission would have to approve these changes in agency formations. Next each of the "approved" subject agencies would have to go into dissolution, followed by annexation to the Windsor Fire Protection District. Once that occurred, registered voters residing within the boundaries of the changed districts, that is Rincon Valley FPD, the Mountain VPD service area and possibly the Bennett Valley FPD, would have the right to participate in the Windsor Fire Protection Regionalized District elections. Property owners in the annexed fire districts or the Mountain VPD would be subject to existing or future special taxes or assessments for the Windsor Fire Protection District, as approved by voters.
The Bennett Valley Fire Protection District Board has invited Fire Chief Mark Heine, for both the Windsor Fire Protection District and the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District, to attend their monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 11, 7:00 pm, at the Bennett Valley Fire Station, for questions and answers from the Board of Directors. Presumably a number of these issues can be more fully explained and explored at this meeting. Bennett Valley residents are encouraged to attend.
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