Home East County Editorial: Public Should Support ECCFPD Benefit Assessment by Voting “Yes”

Editorial: Public Should Support ECCFPD Benefit Assessment by Voting “Yes”

by ECT

Residents served by the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District have until April 27 to decide what they want their future fire department to look like.

The District is asking the public to support a benefit assessment where a majority of residents would pay around $100 and help stabilize the financially strapped district for a period of 5-years while a long term solution is sought.

By supporting the assessment, voters would receive a five-station service model with Stations 54 in downtown Brentwood re-opening while Station 94 in Knightsen would stay open. This would provide better coverage and ensure firefighters are available when needed for an immediate response.

By rejecting the assessment, voters are saying they want to punish themselves by reducing fire service where two fire stations close permanently, firefighters are laid off, and the district will begin to see many other unintended consequences of a three-station fire model–all in the name of $8 a month.

We encourage voters to say “Yes” to the Benefit Assessment and to turn in your ballots by Monday.

It makes little sense to punish the fire district and one’s own service level over the District not being able to control funding it receives as a result of the Prop 13 allocations and a loss in revenue from the housing crisis—for example, unlike other special district, the ECCFPD cannot raise its rates each year.

Since ECCFPD is classified as a “Rural District”, it collects just 6 cents of every property tax dollar, while neighboring district Contra Costa Fire receives as much as 13 cents on the dollar. Those claiming a change to Prop 13 is the solution—technically they are correct, but it’s not anything that will be done in the next 24-months and anyone saying it can be done with this legislator is selling you fool’s gold.

Other than a political fumble of giving a small raise to the Fire Chief (which the chief did not want) and Battalion Chiefs, the District has done everything it could to reduce costs. They renegotiated contracts of employees who now pay more in employee contributions to retirement and medical—meaning the only place to cut now is layoff more staff.

IMG_9238-copyWhile some claim cut firefighter salary, people are now confused by the damage done by other publications and a Taxpayer Association with erroneous information—the ECCFPD does not fall into that argument. Simply put, further cutting pay and benefits for ECCFPD firefighters is ridiculous as they are the lowest paid in the Bay Area.

As reported in February 2014, the ECCFPD works a 56-hour week with frozen salaries and are now paying more in their medical and retirement—technically their hourly take home is less than what is being shown in the chart below.

Note – CONFIRE recently received a raise and hourly salary has been increased which is not shown in the chart.

ECCFPDCONFIREAlameda County
Battalion Chief$33.00 per hour$49.79 per hour$50.13 per hour
Fire Captain$20.60 per hour$37.43 per hour$39.83 per hour
Engineer$19.57 per hour$33.31 per hour$35.37 per hour
Firefighter$17.50 per hour$32.96 per hour$32.62 per hour

IMG_6959

The District Under a Three Station Model

While a benefit assessment is not ideal, the alternative of doing nothing is even worse. The District functioning on a 3-station model is not acceptable, heck a 5-station model is not acceptable—remember, a few years the District had 8 stations.

For residents in Brentwood, do you feel comfortable having 1-engine on Balfour & Bypass covering your entire city of more than 50,000 people? Station 54 is not only vital for Brentwood residents, but it’s a vital station for the entire District and must be re-opened.

Prior to Station 54 closing, in most cases it was the second due engine on major incidents such as fires and accidents with technical rescue—it allowed the District to act quicker on all incidents meaning people in need of immediate help received quicker service than they currently receive.

For residents in Oakley, if this assessment fails, Engine 93 will be split on incidents in Oakley, Knightsen and Bethel Island—meaning your next due engine is coming from Discovery Bay as Brentwood’s Station 52 will likely be on calls in Brentwood.

For residents in Discovery Bay, since you are the backup Station in the District, the engine will be spending a lot of time outside of Discovery Bay which means Discovery Bay will be left unprotected for long periods of time.

The same holds true in Bethel Island and Knightsen where a “no vote” means you are okay with pushing your fire station further away from where you live.

ECCFPDFinally, a structure fire requires 5-engines to respond. With just 3 engines, assistance will have to come from Antioch, Pittsburg or Clayton because the District will never have the resources needed to fight fires or handle large incidents.

Hopefully you can see a 3-station model covering 100,000 people and 250 square miles does not work very well. Its dangerous not only for the public, but for the firefighters as 3-engines will be running non-stop.

We hope the public can look passed the phony rhetoric of a few and take a deep look at the potential reality of where the District is headed. If you don’t like what you see, we encourage you to support the District with a “yes” vote.

The current reality of the District is not very bright, but it’s not to late to change the future of the District by allowing them 5-years to work on a long-term solution with State Officials.

ECCFPD-BallotBallots Due by 10:00 am Monday

All ballots are due by 9:59 am Monday April 27 at Oakley City Council Chambers (3231 Main Street). If you want your vote counted, do not mail it, simply drop it off Monday morning in Oakley.  At 10:00 am, votes will be tallied to determine public interest.

 

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3 comments

Reality Check Apr 24, 2015 - 2:06 pm

I support this. Need more fire stations

Resident Apr 27, 2015 - 3:43 pm

I do not support this. It is a band aid and will not fix anything. Look at DMC. The benefit people will pay until 2027 for a hospital that was ran into the ground. Same here people , a No vote is actually helping force the proper correction.

Listen to the people Apr 27, 2015 - 6:51 pm

Stop wasting our money of phony voting techniques for more taxes. No. Dump that bankrupting union and move on.

Comments are closed.