Property owners in the Ripon Consolidated Fire District (RCFD) parcel tax election this month are deciding whether to cancel automatic aid from the City of Manteca Fire Department.
All they need to do is cast a “no” vote.
That’s because there is no political will on the Manteca City Council to continue to help subsidize fire protection within the City of Ripon or the rest of the 55 square mile district should the Ripon parcel tax increase fail.
In 2023, a Manteca Fire engine was dispatched automatically at least 168 times to answer a call within the RCFD boundaries.
And make no mistake about it. The bulk were within the City of Ripon, as opposed to the district’s rural areas.
It typically happens when Ripon’s lone engine company is on another call.
But it also happens when there is a structure fire.
That’s because RCFD has inadequate staffing to handle a structure fire.
Apparently, this is of no concern to those that govern the City of Ripon.
The City of Ripon per se doesn’t contribute a penny to running the RCFD.
It has been made clear that the money issues the fire district is struggling with is not a City of Ripon problem.
That’s their stance to take.
But they do so at great risk.
The failure of the parcel tax will likely trigger a decision by the Manteca City Council to end automatic aid, and could even put in place protocols restricting the situations that Manteca Fire would be allowed to respond to mutual aid calls.
The reason is simple.
Manteca taxpayers are helping subsidized fire service in Ripon.
And that isn’t playing well in Manteca.
The automatic aid policy in place expires in October 2025.
It will likely be history long before that should the parcel tax fail.
That’s because the pressure will be on the Manteca council to execute the 30-day cancellation clause.
The Manteca council has no other choice but to do so.
It’s not only their fiduciary responsibility to pull the plug, but it would be politically naive for them not to do so.
It is because the Manteca council is gearing up to possibly ask voters on Nov. 5 to approve a one percent sales tax increase.
One of the arguments Manteca is using to justify the increase is the pressing need to add at least one more engine company that requires nine firefighters for 24/7 staffing as well as build a fire station plus secure and outfit an engine to serve the rapidly growing southwest portion of the city.
Clearly, the city can ill-afford what was — when it was started — a mutually beneficial arrangement that has now deteriorated into a situation where Ripon is taking resources away from Manteca and is providing nothing in return.
Every time an engine is sent to Ripon proper, it is a minimum of 10 minutes away from the edge of the City of Manteca.
There are already times in Manteca when four — and even all five — engine companies are tied up on a call.
Manteca, at that point, would be pushing its luck.
The last thing Manteca can afford to do is to have an automatic aid agreement in place that has become a one-way affair to put the fire department in a position when they take way too long to respond to an emergency within the city limits.
Or, worse yet, not have an engine available to respond.
In such a case, Manteca’s automatic aid with the Lathrop Manteca Fire District (LMFD) would kick in.
Once that starts happening on a regular basis, it would likely jeopardize the automatic aid arrangement put in place between LMFD and Manteca for optimum operational effectiveness designed to provide the best possible outcomes in emergency situations for both jurisdictions.
The City of Lathrop, just like the City of Ripon, doesn’t provide fire protection per se.
But what Lathrop has been doing since 2012, when voters in that city approved a one percent sales tax, is provide funding for LMFD service within their city limits.
That support translates into 12 firefighters.
For much of Monday, if you called 9-1-1 in Ripon, a City of Manteca Fire Department engine was dispatched from the Ripon Consolidated Fire District’s headquarters station on Stockton Avenue.
Manteca called back six firefighters to “backfill” station staffing for that engine company and a second one that was assisting Ripon to combat a fire at an agricultural facility near East Highway 120 and French Camp Road.
That resulted in overtime on the back of Manteca taxpayers.
The automatic aid agreement allowed such a response to help a neighboring jurisdiction occur flawlessly.
The agreement means the City of Manteca and Ripon Fire agreed ahead of time that the closest available engine is dispatched to 9-1-1 emergency in the two jurisdictions regardless of the department name on the apparatus.
Mutual aid is a different animal.
It isn’t automatic.
And the jurisdiction being called can decline to respond.
Since mutual aid is essentially a one-way street, given Ripon can only staff one engine company, Manteca’s leaders are likely to limit it.
One such limitation could be barring the new $1.8 million tiller truck Manteca is taking delivery of during the next few months from responding.|
Most of the time, given it is stationed on Powers Avenue, it could be the closest engine to Ripon,
It reduces the longevity of the apparatus if it is rolling to Ripon every other day.
Besides a pricey per mile cost based on the equipment and fuel/tire costs, the exposure to accidents increases when it rolls down Highway 99.
Failure of the parcel tax may mean Ripon Fire may opt to explore consolidation options.
The most logical would be with Manteca.
But such a move is a non-starter.
That’s because Manteca isn’t going to want to subsidize Ripon fire protection. Nor would any other fire agency.
Consolidations can improve efficiency in providing emergency services and can reduce costs by streamlining command and support structures.
But they make no sense if one group of taxpayers subsidize another group of taxpayers.
The decision on the parcel tax belongs to Ripon’s property owners.
That said, they need to understand if they essentially refuse to fund two engine companies within the fire district, they will likely not be able to keep leaning on Manteca.
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
