Ripon not having adequate funding for the consolidated fire district — that serves 22 square miles that includes the city and countryside — is not really a burning question.

It’s really a life and death issue.

Ripon Consolidated Fire District (RCFD) calls mirror a typical fire department. Close to 90 percent of all 9-1-1 calls are for a medical emergency with many involving traffic, at-home, and workplace accidents.

This is why even if RCFD manages to keep one fire engine manned 24/7 as well as its one ambulance, the repercussions of last week’s parcel tax failure will more than likely be serious.

The reason is simple.

The Manteca City Council is getting pressure to pull the plug on the automatic aid agreement that sends the closest available engine in either Ripon or Manteca to a 9-1-1 call in either jurisdiction.

The reason is three-fold.

It has now become a one-way street making Manteca taxpayers de facto underwriters of fire/emergency services in Ripon.

Manteca is asking its residents on Nov. 5 to approve a ¾ cent sales tax increase with one big need being to hire 9 firefighters and build a sixth fire station in the rapidly growing southwest portion of the city where close to 2,500 residents are outside Manteca’s five-minute response time.

It reduces the number of fire engine companies available on a significantly large basis that Manteca taxpayers fund from five to four because at least one engine is in Ripon.

The odds are great the Manteca Council in the next month or so will move to pull the plug on automatic aid. That would leave mutual aid in place.

What that means if Ripon needs a  fire engine, one won’t be automatically dispatched from Manteca.

Instead, a request will be made for Manteca to send a fire engine.

The approval, if it is given, would add to the response time.

It could add a minute, less or more.

Time is critical in a medical emergency for the best possible outcome.

Manteca pulling the plug on mutual aid is highly unlikely even if Manteca ends up making more runs than they are right now to Ripon.

That’s because the city doing that could start a major crack that could grow and undermine the critical mutual aid structure that helps when one community is temporarily overwhelmed.

What is likely to happen, is Manteca’s fire command — which has a fiduciary responsibility first and foremost to Manteca taxpayers and residents — may decide the best move for them is to not put a section of the city they are supposed to protect in jeopardy of having too long of response to an emergency and instead send an engine that is not closer to Ripon.

Regardless, Ripon is now in a position where a tax measure of any type can’t be pursued under state law until 2026.

That’s because tax measures can only appear on general election ballots — the March primary and the November general.

The window for the Nov. 5 election this year has closed.

So the question is what should Ripon do?

The answer is follow the City of Lathrop’s lead.

They were starting down the same path Ripon now finds itself on 12 years ago. They are served by a fire district just like Ripon.

Lathrop’s city leaders didn’t say it’s not our problem.

They also understood a parcel tax per se wouldn’t do what was needed for a growing city.

So they came up with a one cent tax hike that dedicated a set percentage to fund Lathrop Manteca Fire District services within the Lathrop city limits.

None of the manpower and support goes to the two rural stations that are manned by the fire district. One is on Union Road south of Manteca and the other on Austin Road northeast of Manteca.

Instead, it supports the 24/7 staffing and equipping of three fire stations that serve city residents.

The beauty of a sales tax is fourfold.

It is paid by everyone in the community when they make taxable purchases at stores, restaurants, and gas stations.

It is paid by non-city residents including those that live in rural Ripon within the fire district when they shop in Ripon.

It is paid by travelers — think truckers — as well as visitors attending Mistlin Sports Park events when they access taxable items whether it is at a restaurant or gas station.

It isn’t targeted to one set of taxpayers such as a parcel tax that only applies to those that own property.

Nobody likes taxes.

Most everybody, though, likes a lot of what they provide.

Coming up with a solution — at least for the 16,000 residents of the City of Ripon per se that they were elected to serve — should be a top priority with the Ripon City Council.

The possible solutions open to the city?

They could wait until 2026 and support a fire district bid to get a parcel tax hike in place after failing to do so in 2007, 2018, and now 2024.

They could cut back services to send some money the fire district’s way to shore up protection within the city.

They could push the district to explore turning over its ambulance service to another entity — American Medical Response or Manteca District Ambulance — if it would improve RCFD’s ability to man fire engines.

They could try to get the ball rolling on options such as consolidation talks given there can be cost savings in such a move although it is doubtful Manteca — or any other nearby fire agency — would give such an option much thought if isn’t mutually beneficial for both communities and everyone isn’t pulling their fair share.

They could look at launching their own fire department that could easily cost  more than what a one cent sales tax hike would generate.

What isn’t sustainable is for the Jewel of the Valley basically to rely on the City of Manteca on a regular basis for keeping Ripon city residents safe with very little, if any, neighborly help going the other way  in terms of the dispatching of manned fire engines.

Simply hiding behind the bottom line that it is a fire district problem and not a city problem won’t do.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com