San Mateo Fire consolidation could save costs, grand jury says

By Shaun Bishop

Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 05/26/2010 10:01:13 PM PDT
Updated: 05/27/2010 12:29:21 AM PDT

Cities in San Mateo County that still run their own fire departments should consider consolidating with neighboring jurisdictions or contracting with the state to reduce costs, according to a civil grand jury report released Wednesday.

The eight-page report found that spreading fire service over a larger population tends to reduce administrative costs and lower per capita expense.

"You can clearly consolidate without reducing the level of service to the residents of the cities and save quite a lot of money," said Bill Blodgett, the grand jury foreman. "The fact is, you don't need the same type of overhead structure in every community up and down San Mateo County."

The grand jury concluded that Peninsula agencies with their own fire service should complete a study by July 2011 exploring potential consolidations with nearby departments or contracting with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

Those include the cities of San Bruno, Millbrae, Foster City, San Mateo and Redwood City, and the Woodside and Colma fire protection districts.

The report was released at a time when consolidation of public safety services is a hot topic on the Peninsula.

San Carlos has particularly drawn attention as it considers outsourcing police and fire services and talks consolidation with other agencies, including Redwood City, San Mateo and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

In a nod to the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department's tussle over sharing costs between the cities, the grand jury said any consolidation agreement should come with a dispute resolution provision. San Carlos recently began the process of dissolving the joint department.

"It makes complete sense," agreed San Carlos Council Member Andy Klein, who sits on the fire board made up of two council members from each city. "We have a four-member board and there's a reason elected bodies are usually odd numbers. If one side doesn't feel like doing something, it doesn't get done."

The grand jury said consolidation can help reduce personnel costs, which it noted have been increasing and straining city budgets, in part due to labor contracts negotiated in better times that are "no longer sustainable in today's economic environment."

The Woodside Fire Protection District, which covers only 16,000 residents, had the highest per capita personnel cost at $796, according to the report. The lowest per capita cost was rung up by the Coastside Fire Protection District, which contracts with Cal Fire — $132.49 for each of the 40,000 residents served.

Contracting with Cal Fire could provide savings because the statewide organization tends to have lower salary, health insurance and pension costs, the grand jury said.

Redwood City City Council Member Barbara Pierce said she would be open to getting more information about a potential consolidation with a neighboring city, though she would want to get feedback from employees and the community on the idea.

"I think certainly it's in an environment like this that we start to look at doing business differently," Pierce said.

E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_15170968