Saratoga News

County Fire Dept. backs legislation to forgive debt

By Sarah Lombardo

The Santa Clara County Fire Department and the Saratoga Fire District are hoping state legislators have forgiveness in their hearts. An accounting error going back about four years has caused the departments to owe the state $15.2 million and $311,000, respectively.

Fire department and county officials, along with local politicians including Assemblyman Jim Cunneen and state Sen. Byron Sher, are backing legislation to forgive the debt--or at least require that it get paid back over a long, long period of time.

If not, the effect, "obviously for the fire departments, would be devastating," William Parsons, the county's director of finance, said.

But it shouldn't be devastating for the Saratoga District's plans to construct a new firehouse, Saratoga Fire Commissioner Jay Geddes said. The Saratoga District has been working on plans for a new facility for about three years, after a 1994 report showed the current firehouse on Saratoga Avenue needed seismic upgrades. Saratoga District Fire Chief Ernie Kraule and Geddes told City Councilmembers earlier this month that they would probably have to take the issue to a bond measure in 1999 to pay for the project.

But according to Geddes, the amount of money that the district will owe in future years is not substantial--about $87,000.

Geddes said the district will try to get their district's plight included on the legislation for County Fire.

"If they can forgive [County Fire], they can forgive us," he said.

According to a memo from County Fire Chief Douglas Sporleder to Parsons dated Oct. 16, 1997, the future reduction in annual property taxes apportioned to County Fire is almost $4 million.

County Fire serves Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill and adjacent county areas. Locally, the department has five facilities located in Saratoga and Los Gatos: the department's headquarters and a station and maintenance shop on Winchester Boulevard in Los Gatos, a station and craft workers maintenance shop on Shannon Road in Los Gatos, a station on Saratoga-Los Gatos Road in Los Gatos, and a station on Cox Avenue in Saratoga.

The debt for both departments results from a mixup in how much the departments should have been paying into the state's Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF), which was a redistribution of property taxes written into law in fiscal year 1992-93 to help the state with needed funds for schools.

In spring 1997, Parsons notified County Fire that it had received property taxes via the tax apportionment to which it was not entitled. That amount equaled more than $15 million--or one-half of the department's budget. Parsons then discovered Feb. 19 that the Saratoga Fire District, the South County Fire District and the Los Altos Fire District owed money as well.

"The fire department should have been paying more money to the ERAF fund, and it was our error," Parsons said. "So, at this point, we are seeking legislation from the state to forgive that amount."

Parsons said he also intends to work with the Saratoga Fire District to get its debt forgiven along with County Fire's.

"The circumstances are similar, so we're hopeful they will include in their bill forgiveness for these districts," Parsons said.

Meanwhile, County Fire has been trying to work around the debt.

"County Fire has a revenue budget of $30 million, consisting of $20 million in property taxes and $10 million in contract payments from four agencies," Sporleder's October memo states. "The contract payments received from the four agencies are designated for service to those four jurisdictions and are not available to the rest of County Fire's service area. Thus, two-thirds of County Fire's service area will have to absorb the total ongoing property tax reduction burden."

But through changes in staffing and suspending capital projects, Sporleder said the department will still be able to maintain service in the future.

"We're anticipating no impact on services at all," he said. "We've made some changes in the way we do business in an effort to be prepared for these changes."

What is at stake, however, is the $15 million the department owes to the state.

In his memo, Sporleder states: "If County Fire has to absorb an additional $15,200,000 cut, even if paid back over 20 years, the result will be the elimination of some fire engine companies, thereby increasing response times and the exposure of risk to our citizens and firefighters. County Fire is not a department of the Santa Clara County government and cannot look to a bailout from the county's general fund. Rather, it is a stand-alone fire department that serves nine separate jurisdictions over 137 square miles and protects 253,000 people. It is absolutely crucial that the state look favorably on our request for forgiveness...."

Parsons said he is optimistic the debt for all departments will be forgiven.

"Other counties [around the state] have made such errors, and it has been forgiven," he said. "[Legislators] seem to be coming around. We're hopeful."

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]