DISCUSSION
Shasta County and CAL FIRE have a long-standing contractual relationship that provides for CAL FIRE to administer and operate the SCFD. This includes all functions of fire department administration, including fire protection, life safety, emergency medical response, dispatching, training, equipment maintenance, and administrative services on behalf of Shasta County. The prior agreement will expire June 30, 2018, necessitating a new agreement. This new Agreement is for a twelve-month term, and will terminate June 30, 2019. However, it may be extended as provided in section 4 of Exhibit C of the Agreement.
CAL FIRE published preliminary rate schedules in January 2018 for the fiscal year 2018/2019, however the rates will not be finalized until later in the year. This Agreement is based upon those preliminary rates. Included in the Agreement are provisions requiring the rate schedules be modified annually to reflect services provided. This allows CAL FIRE to react to changes in service levels requested by Shasta County and changes in costs related to personnel services. However, the County reimburses CAL FIRE based only on actual costs.
Quarterly, during the fiscal year, CAL FIRE invoices Shasta County for the actual costs incurred for providing these services. Typically, because of the estimating technique used to forecast the cost of services, the actual cost is less than estimated due to fluctuations in salaries from changes in staffing. The calculated cost of providing services using the published rates is $4,584,129 as detailed on the Agreement rate schedules.
The total cost of services for fiscal year 2018/2019 has increased $224,427 compared to the fiscal year 2017/2018 contract budgeted at $4,359,702. The cost increase is primarily due to negotiated salary increases for all personnel including firefighting personnel, mechanics, communications operators, and administrative support staff.
As of January 1, 2018, the California minimum wage increased to $11.00 per hour, and it will increase again January 1, 2019. Firefighter salaries will continue to increase annually to meet the minimum state regulation.
The Agreement rates also reflect several small benefit rate changes including, a .19% decrease for overall health care premiums, a 1.93% increase in Unemployment Insurance, a 0.46% decrease for Workers Compensation, and a negotiated increase of 1%-1.5% based on Bargaining Unit for prefunding of post-employment benefits. There is an increase of 1.18%-2.94% for retirement benefits, based on Bargaining Unit. The Administrative Rate increased by 0.46% to 12.47%.
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