MEASURE K 2020-21 Annual Report The year of the COVID-19 pandemic
City of San Pablo Page 2 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022 About this Report This report is presented to the Measure K Citizens’ Oversight Committee along with a report entitled “Independent Accountant’s Report on Applying Agreed Upon Procedures for City of San Pablo Measure K Collection, Management and Expenditures for the Year Ended June 30, 2021.” The Independent Accountant’s Report was prepared by: Maze & Associates Accountancy Corporation 3478 Buskirk Avenue, Suite 215 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 The San Pablo Measure K Report was prepared by: Public Profit 1624 Franklin, Suite 600 Oakland, CA 94612
City of San Pablo Page 3 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022 About Measure K Measure K was a City of San Pablo (City) special sales tax measure approved by a 71% “Yes” vote on the June 3rd, 2014 ballot.1 The measure authorized a quarter-cent increase in the City’s sales tax in perpetuity (the current sales tax rate is 9.0%). As a special tax, the money generated from Measure K is restricted to fund the creation and operation of an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Squad out of Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) Station 70 in downtown San Pablo. With the closure of Doctor’s Medical Center and unstable funding of Fire Station 70 from Con Fire, the City Council authorized that Measure K be placed on the ballot to ensure that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provided through Station 70 continue in the future. Many local residents depend upon Station 70 for 100% of their EMS services. Station 70 is the second busiest fire station in the District, with over 3,000 service calls annually. Prior to the passage of Measure K, and due to budget restrictions that grew out of the economic downturn, Station 70 was only staffed by three fire fighter/paramedics on one Engine Company.2 Funding from Measure K allowed the District to add one EMS squad vehicle supported by two additional personnel dedicated solely to respond to emergency medical calls. 1 Contra Costa County Elections Division (2014). Official Results, June 3, 2014 Statewide Primary Election. Retrieved March 18, 2021 from http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CA/Contra_Costa/51632/134539/Web01/en/summary.html 2 City of San Pablo (2014). Measure K. Retrieved March 18, 2021 from http://www.ci.san-pablo.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=1380
City of San Pablo Page 4 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022 Financials During fiscal year 2020-21, Measure K provided $965,232 in revenue and $1,542,060 was spent in Measure K expenditures.3 Maze and Associates conducted an agreed-upon procedures engagement to assist the City in accounting and reporting on collection, management, and expenditure of the Measure K revenue for the period July 1st, 2020 to June 30th, 2021. The purpose of this engagement was solely to support the City in complying with the requirements of Section 3.26.140 of Ordinance 2014-007 and was conducted in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. City management was wholly responsible for the collection, administration, and expenditure of Measure K funds.4 Measure K expenditures included one payment of $1,152,000 and one payment of $384,000 (totaling $1,536,000) for Fire Station 70 enhanced Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for the months of July 2020 through June 2021. The funds were used to cover the contracted personnel cost of the EMS squad during that time frame. Measure K expenditures also included $6,060 for auditing and evaluation consulting. 3 The discrepancy between revenues and expenditures is due to the 2014 contractual arrangement between the City and the Fire District for enhanced EMS services. 4 Independent Accountant’s Report on Applying Agreed Upon Procedures for Measure K Collection, Management and Expenditures for the Year Ended June 30, 2021.
City of San Pablo Page 5 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022 Impact The new EMS squad launched service in 2015. The squad (titled ‘Squad 70’ within the county) responds independently to medical calls that can be handled by its initial response, such as respiratory issues, fractures, fainting, or illnesses. The large elderly and care-home population of the City generates a high volume of such medical calls for service. The paramedic unit in the City of San Pablo continued to serve the citizens well. In fiscal year 2020-21, the EMS squad responded to a total of 1,615 emergency calls. Of these calls, 1,108 were for medical emergencies in which Squad 70 responded independently, while Squad 70 and Engine 70 responded jointly 84 times. Additionally, Squad 70 and Engine 70 responded jointly to 272 fire calls and 129 rescue calls (mostly motor vehicle accidents). Squad 70 also responded to an additional 106 calls in Richmond and other Battalion 7 areas (Figure 1).5 Overall, the Squad 70 vehicle has traveled approximately 62,000 miles since it started seven years ago. FIGURE 1. BREAKDOWN OF EMS SQUAD RESPONSES FOR JULY 2020 – JUNE 2021
5 EMS squad response data provided by City of San Pablo. 1,615EMS Squad Responses
1,108 medical emergencies within the City of San Pablo
272 fire conditions calls in the City of San Pablo (tandem response with Engine 70) 129 rescue calls in the City of San Pablo (tandem response with Engine 70) 106 calls in Richmond and Battalion 7 areas(tandem response with Engine 70) City of San Pablo Page 6 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022 The addition of Measure K’s EMS squad relieves significant pressure on the fire apparatus responding from West County. While Squad 70 responds to medical calls, Engine 70, the remaining county fire engine also located at Station 70, remains available for concurrent fire calls or other emergencies requiring the response of the larger and more robustly equipped fire engine. Prior to the existence of Squad 70, Engine 70 was among the busiest in the county but was regularly unavailable because of minor medical calls for service, leaving a service gap. Reports of fires, vehicle accidents, cardiac arrest, or serious trauma, which elicit the response of both Squad 70 and Engine 70 to handle the logistics and multiple hazards that often occur on such scenes, can now be managed more quickly and efficiently. The COVID pandemic continued to strain the EMS delivery system. During periods of high infection rates, transfers from the ambulance to the Emergency Room were impacted due to lack of hospital space. This added to the turnaround availability of ambulances countywide. There were brief, but not uncommon, occurrences of EMS “Level Zero,” where no countywide ambulances were available on the radio for new assignments. With potential delays in transport, the first-response availability of Squad 70 and other paramedics was vital.
City of San Pablo Page 7 Measure K 2020-2021 Prepared by Public Profit | May 2022
Looking Ahead On April 12th, 2021, the crews and equipment at Station 70 moved into the new state-of-the-art fire station in San Pablo. This enhanced the ability of the crews to rehabilitate and re-supply their equipment after each response. Additionally, in-service training will improve with new teaching aids and equipment. The large facility will also allow the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) to standardize their responses with the rest of the countywide agencies. The original Squad 70 apparatus has served for seven years and has logged over 62,000 miles. As mentioned in last year’s report, the county funded a rescue-aerial apparatus and will also fund a third and fourth position to augment the current two EMS Squad personnel. This will standardize staffing on all apparatus in the county to three personnel on engines and four on truck companies. The cost of this extra staffing enhancement and apparatus purchase will be borne by the fire district. Lastly, Con Fire continues to manage the county ambulance contract with operational “absorption” of American Medical Response (AMR) into county operations including its fire dispatch. This allows for close regional coordination of transport assets as well as the most efficient use of the squad personnel. In addition to this, the fire district also took over operation of the medical helicopter response for the county, adding coordination of another special asset in Contra Costa.