Agenda Item No. 18
CITY OF YUCAIPA
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Raymond A. Casey, City Manager
Grant Malinowski, Fire Chief
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FOR: City Council Meeting January 24, 2022
SUBJECT: AB 38 Structure Fee/Paramedic Fee
RECOMMENDATION:
That City Council:
1. Conduct a Study Session to review and determine if an AB38 fee should be established; and
2. Conduct a Study Session to review and determine if a Paramedic user fee/subscription should be established.
BACKGROUND:
On July 1, 2021, AB38 went into effect requiring all real estate transactions in California in CAL FIRE's High or Very High fire hazard severity zones to have a defensible space inspection produced by the listing agent or listee regardless of jurisdiction. The bill will also have some components going into effect on July 1, 2025, where they will also need to disclose the State Fire Marshal's list of low-cost retrofits to provide home hardening as well as mandated Wildfire Mitigation plans collaboratively between OES and CAL FIRE. This bill provided funding for CAL FIRE to have one AB38 inspector per administration unit to perform these inspections within the SRA but unfortunately it did not provide funding for local govermnents. The bill requires the inspections to be performed in local responsibility areas (LRA) as well within seven business days of a request. There is no policing of this required disclosure to close escrow at this time, which is an additional issue as the listing agent and listee can be civilly and professionally liable for not performing the inspection and disclosure pursuant to the legislation (even if they had no knowledge of the AB38 requirements).
Currently the Yucaipa Fire Department is handling the inspections which have been at the rate of at approximately one per week but with thousands of residences in the high/very high fire hazard zones, and knowledge of this required process becomes more prevalent, this number is expected to increase. When polling other jurisdictions in California it was found they are applying an AB38 fee to offset increased staff time, these fees ranged from $85 - $240 with $150-160 being the median.
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The principle rationale for establishing a First Responder Fee is that the services rendered by Fire Departments have greatly expanded well beyond the traditional fire suppression generally supported by property taxes. The change in balance from primarily fire suppression to advanced life support emergency medical services has shifted the rationale for financing fire department operations from primarily property -related taxes to a combination of property taxes, assessment, and user fees. As the City's Fire Department has transitioned toward providing trained staff for both fire suppression and medical services with an ever-expanding call volume, there have been no additional assessments or supplemental tax increases since 2004 to help offset the cost increases necessary to provide these services. This proposed cost recovery mechanism is only related to first responder advanced life support paramedic services. Not all cities have firefighters who are also paramedics, as we do in the City of Yucaipa.
This enhanced level of service protects our community to a greater degree and is now deemed an essential service. Paramedic fees have become an industry standard among cities with this response capability to help offset the cost of the enhanced paramedic level of service provided by fire engine companies. When polled, almost all jurisdictions in California with advanced life support services had to employ an alternative funding source, such as a paramedic assessment tax, utility tax, sales tax, and/or EMS/paramedic fees (with and without subscription service options). On a separate poll, cities that initiated a non-resident only paramedic fee proved to be unsuccessful (Redlands Fire Chief indicated their city obtained approximately $9,000 in revenue for last fiscal year which was insufficient to cover staff time and third -party billing administrative costs). The intent of the Paramedic Fee/subscription would be to recover the net costs for "actual services rendered" by Yucaipa Fire Department Paramedics during emergency medical services as well as associated equipment and supplies that are not currently being funded by the fire department property tax allocation and Measure Y funding sources. This proposed fee could be applied to residents and non-residents at tiered user fee rates as established by City Council. The following is a partial list of local cities with paramedic fees and/or EMS subscriptions; Redlands, Rialto, Montclair, Norco, Orange County, Anaheim, Arcadia, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Huntington Beach and Long Beach. If directed by Council, staff would need to enlist the help of an expert consultant in the "field" in order to make a recommendation to the City Council regarding the appropriate net fee/subscription amount(s). This item has been reviewed and supported by the Public Safety Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None
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