Irvine’s City Council has directed city staff to explore the possibility of leaving the Orange County Fire Authority in 2020. The Council wants to find a more cost effective way to provide fire protection services to city residents. If Irvine can find an alternative that constrains firefighter compensation – especially overtime pay– it may be on the right track. Hundreds of firefighters working for the OC Fire Authority receive $200,000 or more in total comp, largely as a result of generous overtime and pension benefits.
As with most cities participating in OC Fire, Irvine property taxpayers fund OC Fire through a portion of their 1% ad valorem tax. According to the Authority’s most recent budget, OC Fire receives 11 cents of every property tax dollar and Irvine property was assessed at a total of $61 billion. This implies that Irvine property taxpayers are paying $67 million annually for fire protection. That amount is roughly equivalent to cost of Irvine’s city police. Since police forces typically have more headcount than fire departments, it is reasonable to think that the city could handle the job of fighting fires more economically........... Continue Reading →
As with most cities participating in OC Fire, Irvine property taxpayers fund OC Fire through a portion of their 1% ad valorem tax. According to the Authority’s most recent budget, OC Fire receives 11 cents of every property tax dollar and Irvine property was assessed at a total of $61 billion. This implies that Irvine property taxpayers are paying $67 million annually for fire protection. That amount is roughly equivalent to cost of Irvine’s city police. Since police forces typically have more headcount than fire departments, it is reasonable to think that the city could handle the job of fighting fires more economically........... Continue Reading →
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