Ventura County East Edition : Simi Valley Considers Seceding From County Fire District

Concerned by Ventura County Fire Department threats to close up to 18 of its 31 fire stations due to budget cuts, Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said Friday that city officials are discussing the idea of seceding from the county fire district and forming a city fire department.

As Simi Valley joined Thousand Oaks in considering independence from the county Fire Department, county officials announced Friday that enough taxpayers have protested a proposed $110-per-home fire tax to force the Board of Supervisors either to reject it or seek voters’ approval of it in an upcoming election.

The board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the issue June 22 and vote on June 29 whether to put it on an upcoming ballot.

Stratton’s statement came just two days after Thousand Oaks City Council members voted to study the possibility of forming their own fire department.

Stratton said Simi Valley officials have considered and rejected a city fire department several times in the past because it would be difficult to retrieve property tax money from the state that city residents pay for the county Fire Department’s coverage.

Secession talk began anew this week, with the announcement that Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to hack $20 million in local property taxes from the department’s $45-million budget could force closure of up to 18 fire stations and layoffs of nearly half the department’s firefighters and civilian workers.

“Now that there seems to be less money and the (county fire) district insists it’s going to cut fire services in the eastern county, I think it certainly may behoove us to take a look at that again,” Stratton said. “We’ve been contacted by a number of people saying, ‘How could you let this happen?’ ”

Stratton said he and City Manager Lin Koester have been discussing the idea “as a contingency” to keep the city covered with enough fire stations in case any county stations in Simi Valley are closed.

“We’re not interested in doing it just for the sake of doing it, but we’re interested in it if the fire stations close,” he said.

Meanwhile, the county this week assigned a third person to help tabulate the tax protests and check them against property records to make sure they are authentic, Dean said. The protests are coming in at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 per day, Dean said.

The tax protests counted so far represent more than 5% of the revenue the tax would raise, which means the measure must win approval by a majority vote in the county fire district of 400,000 residents before it can be levied.

Should the written protests top 50% before an election, the tax would automatically be defeated, Dean said.

County fire officials have said that without the tax or other aid, state budget reductions would cut the department’s operating capacity by nearly two-thirds.

“We’re not optimistic that we can be kept whole by the county,” said Ventura County Fire Chief George Lund. “Now that (the tax) has actually been protested, that gives us a little more ammunition with the state. Now we’re going to go a year without any possibility of revenue from that source, and state revenue becomes all the more critical for us.”

Talk of secession by Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley officials could prompt other cities to consider forming their own departments, Lund said.

“We could not sustain ourselves as well without Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley,” he said. “Both those cities are equal to half the district’s population and more than half of our revenue. They equal about 40 to 45% of the geography.”

But he added, “You can’t really blame the cities for trying to make sure their citizens are taken care of.”