Hiring nine more freighters to improve public safety levels using Measure Q sales tax receipts is emerging as a top priority among Manteca City Council members
The personnel would allow the staffing of a sixth engine company 24/7.
It would mean the Union Road station built 23 years ago to accommodate a tiller truck with a 100-foot aerial ladder and an engine company would finally be used as it was intended.
Not only is the Union Road station by far the busiest in Manteca in terms of call volume, but it is at the optimum location to make effective use of the $2 million tiller truck that plays a critical role in structure fires.
The nine firefighters are in addition to another nine firefighters that will be needed to man the sixth fire station when it is built and opened in rapidly growing southwest Manteca.
Several members of the council during a joint meeting with the Measure Q citizens oversight committee Tuesday at the Manteca Transit Center pushed back on a staff recommendation that the three quarters of a cent sales tax not be used for reoccurring personnel costs.
“Building a new (police or fire) station is not going to improve public safety,” noted Councilman Charlie Halford. “It’s more people working out of the building.”
Interim Fire Chief David Rudat pointed out the need for a dedicated truck company that does not do double duty as a first response engine has been noted as a need by previous fire chiefs going back 14 years.
It is the reason why the Union Road station was built in 2002 to include housing for two three-member crews and to house a truck as well as a front line engine.
Councilman Dave Breitenbucher made his position clear the additional firefighters need to be hired even if it means tapping into the Measure Q funds that will be coming in.
Breitenbucher also wants to make sure the investment the city has made in equipment is used in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
That means the $2 million tiller truck would be shifted from the Powers Avenue station to Union Road.
Fire agencies such as South County (Tracy-Tracy Rural) and Stockton do not use truck companies as if they are frontline engines.
They are designed to allow for more effective attack on structure fires ranging from single family homes to multiple-story buildings and massive distribution centers
The truck company does not just attack fires from above, but they can get in place quicker, and extend over parked vehicles and such that may be in the way.
In doing so, it can shave minutes off an effort to battle a blaze reducing property loss and potentially save lives
It would primarily be dispatched on structure fire calls and rescue calls requiring specialized equipment it carries.
However, if all engine companies are committed to calls the truck company would be dispatched.
It is a best practice that not only extends the life of the $2 million investment, but it makes sure the truck company is available wherever a structure fire occurs in the city.
It is why Stockton has three truck companies strategically housed throughout the city of 322,000 for maximum coverage and effective response times.
Halford repeatedly emphasized a “12 minute response time is unacceptable.”
He noted most of the homes are new enough in southwest Manteca that they have state-mandated fire sprinklers that help keep fires at bay until firefighters arrive.
The councilman stressed medical calls are another matter.
“If it takes 12 minutes to respond to a heart attack (call) you might as well dispatch the coroner instead,” Halford said.
12-minute fire response time
still problem without 6th station
It should be noted that hiring nine firefighters to add a dedicated truck company at the Union Road station would likely not make much of a dent in response times to 9-1-1 calls in the southwest section of the city now experiencing 12-minute response time.
The only gain in regards to southwest Manteca response time would be on occasions when the engine company at the Union Road station is on another call. The truck company would be closer to dispatch than engine companies at the city’s other four stations.
The only way to get the response time for 3,000 homes and growing in southwest Manteca into the targeted five-minute or less range as outlined as a municipal policy goal in the general plan is by building a fire station and adding an engine company at a location near Woodward and McKinley avenues.
The city expects to have $6.5 million in fire facilities fees by July 1 to build the station that will have a $10 million price tag,
Manteca would also need to purchase a $1.2 million frontline engine as well as hire nine firefighters at an annual cost of $2.3 million.
Between the dedicated truck company and sixth engine company that would mean the city needs to add 18 more firefighters at a recurring annual cost of $4.6 million.
The city is exploring proceeding with the fire station now and borrowing money from other funds that would be paid back as growth fees for fire facilities are collected on more new homes that are being built.
Hallford argues Q sales
tax estimate is too low
City staff is estimating Measure Q receipts in the first full 12-months of collection will generate between $11 million and $13 million annually.
Halford argues that is misleading given the current budget has the city’s one cent sales tax generating $18.9 million.
Given Measure Q is a three-quarter cent sales tax, Halford said it would — based on the one cent sales tax — generate roughly $14 million.
He used the example to convince the majority of his colleagues to instruct staff to construct a Measure Q spending plan based on $12 million in the initial full year instead of the $11 million staff was recommending.
The finance department, in working with a sales tax consultant, is concerned there will be a drop off in sales tax revenue in the fiscal year starting July 1 due to economic uncertainty, hence the more cautious approach.
Halford said at $12 million the council is still being cautious unless staff believes sales tax receipts will crater by 50 percent.
If that is the case, then Halford said the city will have big problems as that would deprive the general fund of $6 million in sales tax revenue next year.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
