Mayor seeks costs on County Fire service study
Redondo Beach firefighters during a public safety demonstration. The City of Redondo Beach is exploring possibilities for contracting with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. File photo
The City of Redondo Beach is exploring the possibility of contracting with Los Angeles County fire services, following the direction was given to Redondo Beach Fire Chief Robert Metzger at last week’s semi-annual Strategic Planning session.
At the March 13 meeting, Mayor Bill Brand directed Metzger to get an estimate of costs for the County to begin a study of possible services to the City of Redondo Beach.
“Fire service has been regionalized and there have been significant savings for many cities,” Brand said in an interview. “I think it’s prudent for us to see what they would charge us.”
Redondo’s interest comes after neighboring Hermosa Beach switched to County fire services last year.
Brand has been interested in this subject for nine years and has brought it up on multiple occasions, including as a Councilman in 2009, when Redondo and Hermosa Beach explored consolidating the two departments.
At that time, while the city was deep within the national financial crisis, Brand figured that Redondo could save up to $4 million. However, he was unable to get support from a majority of other members of the City Council, including then-Councilman Pat Aust, a former Redondo Beach fire chief. Aust questioned the level of service the City would receive from County services.
Brand also said that then-city manager Bill Workman told him costs for the survey were “prohibitively high” for the City to sign off on.
As he did then, Brand now believes that it’s the city’s “fiduciary duty” to find out what the costs associated with contracting for County services might be.
Fire services, Brand notes, are a significant portion of the City’s budget. The recently-adjusted Fiscal Year 2017-2018 mid-year budget estimates RBFD to cost $18.4 million, including personnel, maintenance and operations, and internal service fund costs.
The City’s future pension liability, as well, may be weighing on City leadership. For FY ’17-’18, the City is estimated to owe $14.6 million in pensions. According to Brand, the City is expecting contributions to CalPERS – the state’s public employee pension system – to increase by $2 million in the next year.
Any move to the County would be very complex, especially with regard to pensions. The City wouldn’t be off the hook for current employee pensions, should a move take place.
“Factoring everything – PERS, annual costs to run the fire department – it’s just a tremendous amount annually,” Brand said. “It’s important for us to see the whole picture regardless of whether we’re in lean times.”
Chief Metzger said that potential costs for the survey are still to be determined and that he was in the process of contacting the County, as well as former Hermosa Beach Fire Chief Pete Bonano.
Any potential benefits to the City, Metzger said, depending on a number of factors, including the level of service citizens want.
Currently, RBFD has three fire stations, including its Harbor Patrol building, and has a budget for 67 personnel, including 21 firefighter/paramedics, 12 fire engineers, 12 fire captains, three harbor patrol officers and six firefighters.
Redondo’s fire chief believes that RBFD currently provides service at a level and with speed beyond which the County could provide at an equivalent cost.
“If people take this discussion with the assumption that in going County there is an equivalent level of service or an automatic cost savings, I think those assumptions are perhaps not true,” Metzger said, though he acknowledged the research still needs to take place.
Redondo Beach Firefighters Association President Greg Allen said in a statement that RBFA is supportive of the efforts made by both the Mayor and Council and Chief Metzger.
“I feel that our council is exploring cost comparisons to be fiscally responsible to the residents,” Allen said. “Our membership fully understands the process, timelines, and that we are very early in the stages of this entire process.”