City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: Lisa Roos, City Clerk & Finance Director
Date: 06/11/2024
Subject: Ripon Consolidated Fire District
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
City Council to provide direction to staff regarding the City’s response to the property owner ballots received from the Ripon Consolidated Fire District’s proposed assessment for enhanced fire suppression services for all City owned properties.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Ripon residents and businesses are served by a number of important entities, including the Ripon Consolidated Fire District (RCFD). RCFD provides fire protection and emergency response services for a 56 square mile service area of southern San Joaquin County, which includes the 5 square miles of the City of Ripon. As a special district, similar to the local school district and irrigation district, they receive funding from local taxes, fees, and service charges.
The members of the Ripon City Council and RCFD Two-by-Two Committee have met multiple times over the last few years to discuss how best the City of Ripon can support RCFD to ensure they are able to continue to provide the high level of service the residents and businesses of Ripon have appreciated for so many years.
At the October 12, 2021 City Council meeting, the City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Ripon and the RCFD that defined the roles and responsibilities of each entity through RCFD’s evaluation of a Proposition 218 Fire Suppression Assessment (“Assessment”) process to increase operating revenue. Additionally, the City Council approved a professional services agreement with Harris & Associates to provide the following services to support RCFD through this process:
Evaluate the feasibility of adopting a fire suppression assessment Development of public outreach strategy using Lucy & Company Prepare Engineer’s Report to support the Proposition 218 study The cost of these services were split between the City of Ripon and RCFD.
RCFD has completed the previously described work and now has initiated proceedings for the adoption of the Assessment pursuant to the provisions of the Government Code. The Code provides for the levy and collection of assessments by the special districts to generate revenue to pay for fire suppression services and equipment, which provides a special benefit to the parcels within the district boundary.
RCFD has prepared an Engineer’s Formation Report that details the proposed Assessment. The following is a link to the report:
https://www.riponfire.com/_files/ugd/7b3d96_6b75f36e25114c73946f0696b1e242d3.pdf Each property owner within the RCFD service area will receive a ballot to indicate whether the owner supports or opposes the proposed Assessment.
In order for the Assessment to be approved, it requires the majority of the ballots that are submitted to be in favor of the Assessment. In tabulating the ballots, each ballot will be weighted by the amount of the proposed assessment to be imposed upon the parcel.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
The City has received 85 ballots for the City owned parcels within the RCFD service area. The total amount of assessment for the 2024 year is $12,956.70. A standard, single family residence has a proposed assessment of $250.00. Based upon the weighting of the votes, the City’s vote would be the equivalent of 52 single family residence’s votes.
Staff is requesting City Council direction on how to vote on the ballots received for City owned properties.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Currently, the City does not pay any RCFD fees or taxes for City owned properties. If the Assessment is not approved, there would be no fiscal impact. If the Assessment is approved, the fiscal impact for 2024 would be $12,956.70 and would increase every year by 3 percent for inflation.
The $12,956.70 Assessment for 2024 would be paid out of the following operating funds:
Fund Amount
General 8,038.14
Water 1,765.84
Garbage 631.60
Sewer 1,384.24
Streets and Roads 1,136.88
Grand Total $12,956.70