QuickPoll: Should RMA donate the tower site or negotiate the best price? [0]

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials made their second visit to the community in as many weeks with a community meeting Wednesday night. District Chief Don Mette used the 90-minute session to explain the workings and history of his department, the fire services received by area residents and the need for better radio reception here for public-safety workers.

Taxes and the special assessment paid by area residents do not cover the cost of operating fire stations here, District Fire Chief Don Mette said.

While there have always been gaps in radio coverage due to the rolling terrain, the dead spots have increased in recent years, Mette said.

In early April, Mette wrote an angry letter to the RMA, saying the association was asking for "inappropriate and outrageous" fees to place a new public-safety radio tower on the RMA's tower property on Stonehouse Road. The RMA sought a 30-year lease, with fees of $10,000 a year in the first decade, $20,000 a year in the second decade and $30,000 a year for the final decade.

Although there were only a half-dozen neighbors in attendance Wednesday -- there were twice as many fire and sheriff's representatives on hand -- several neighbors took the floor to speak of services rendered or a life saved by firefighters.

Village resident Donna Roth criticized the RMA's position and said, "Do they not understand that it's our health and welfare that they're dealing with? That's absolutely obscene. And greedy."

Another Village resident, Alta Temple, told how firefighters have helped her over the last 25 years here and talked about their assistance during and after January's storm. "They do a terrific job and they help all of us," she said.

Mette attended the April 15 RMA meeting and fielded challenges and compliments from board members. Among the challenges were questions about the $100 special fire assessment area residents pay on top of property taxes.

At Wednesday's session Mette provided a detailed version of the answer he gave RMA officials.

He said the taxes and assessments paid by area residents total about $2.1 million -- far short of the $3.4 million it costs to operate Station 58 in Sloughhouse and Station 59 in Murieta.

"...Paying for these two fire stations, we're in the red," Mette said.

Firefighter Don Kurtz, who lives in Murieta South, said a study in 2000 found an operating revenue shortfall of $892,000 a year for Stations 58 and 59.

Instead of focusing on the shortfall, he said, "We're consumed with whether we get our $100-a-year (assessment) value out of Sacramento Metro Fire. And we're consumed about getting a fee for a tower site."

Mette said most of the district's radio towers are on government land, where no rent is paid, or on property where only a token rent is charged. Only a tower location in Walnut Grove carries rental fees, he said, and that situation could be eliminated by a planned new tower.

"Budgets are tight," he said. "And it comes back to that money coming out of our budget for those radio sites, if we have to pay a lease or rent or buy the property outright from (the RMA)."

Among the other points Mette made:

• He outlined plans for more fire houses in the east county, which are now on hold due to the slowdown in the housing market. Construction fees, when building resumes, will fund the new facilities at a rate of 61 cents a square foot for each home and more for commercial construction, he said.
• He offered a history of fire services in the area. The first medical unit started serving the area in 1979, he said, and the present Station 59 building was opened in 1984, donated by the RMA.
• He provided a risk assessment of Rancho Murieta from the perspective of firefighters and emergency medical personnel. The list included the wild land areas, the airport, the Highway 16 corridor, expanding residential and commercial development, and the use of lakes and the Cosumnes River for recreation.

Recent coverage: RMA says it's willing to negotiate radio tower -- but in private [0] (April 16, 2008) ... County officials will bring radio tower request to RMA [0] (April 15, 2008)

QuickPoll: Should RMA donate the tower site or negotiate the best price? [0]