Manteca’s firefighter ranks will grow by an unprecedented 20 percent this year.

And it is thanks in a large part to voter approval of Measure Q in November 2024.
The City Council is being asked tonight when they meet at 6 p.m. to approve a budget appropriation of $762,169 for the initial onboarding expenses and salary costs associated with hiring nine firefighters.

Manteca currently has 48 frontline firefighters.

Eighteen, or 37 percent, of those positions are funded with the Measure M half cent public safety tax passed in 2006.

The nine additional firefighters will increase the number of the department’s fire suppression personnel by 20 percent.

Elected leaders are doing so after accepting a $2,692,300 federal grant in October.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) matching grant will help offset part of the salary and benefit costs of nine firefighters over their first three years of employment.

The city without Measure Q would have struggled to bring on the nine firefighters needed to staff a sixth fire station being built in southwest Manteca. And it would have been done in a manner that likely filled two or so new positions a year instead of all at once.

Staff pursuing the SAFER grant was keeping with the promise made to voters they would seek other funding sources to stretch the impact of the three-quarter cent 20-year sales tax.

It also underscores a misconception that many have regarding federal and state grants that are available to aid local governments.

In order to beat out other cities there is more to it than just documenting a pressing need.

Manteca, as an example, was able to demonstrate escalating calls for service as well as having more than 3,000 households outside of a targeted 5-minute response time for the best outcome in fires and medical emergencies.

That, however, is not enough.

Local jurisdictions — especially when adding public safety personnel is involved — have to match the grant to some degree.

And in the case of the SAFER grant, they have to continue to employ the firefighters after the three-year period has lapsed.

By bringing on nine firefighters in the coming months, the department will be able to fully staff a sixth engine company now instead of building up to it over several years.

That means a second staffed company will be in place 24/7 later this year at the Union Road station to help handle the growing call volume in southwest Manteca.

When the station is built to serve that area, nine firefighters will be shifted to that location.

The SAFER grant reduces upfront costs and assures all nine firefighters come onboard essentially at once.

And other steps the city has taken — including requiring new projects up for council approval starting in 2022 or needing elected officials’ support for significant changes with maps in place to be part of a community facilities district to help augment public safety staffing — will put new revenue streams in place.

In doing so, it will help replace Measure Q funding when the tax measure ends in 2046.

Of the initial $762,169 appropriation, $330,931 is eligible for reimbursement under SAFER grant. The remaining $431,238 represents non-reimbursable salaries, startup costs for equipment, uniforms, radios, recruitment, and training, and will be appropriated in the Measure Q Fund expenditure accounts.

The balance of the $2.3 million SAFER grant will offset subsequent salary and benefits over the remaining 30 months the grant is in effect.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com