County fire districts adapt with changing times

Parks. Libraries. The King Louie. A better public transit system. Those were the things that had people abuzz this spring and summer as the Johnson County Commission considered its budget for the coming year.

But while commissioners argued whether to increase taxes or issue bonds for those projects, another story was brewing in the background: The financial struggles of the four county fire districts that serve rural areas and towns too small to fund their own fire departments.

County fire districts are what people in unincorporated areas and small towns turn to in emergencies. They make the same kinds of calls as city fire departments, but over a much larger area. They also serve small towns. Johnson County Fire District No. 2, for instance, covers Spring Hill, Bucyrus and Hillsdale Lake, even into a bit of Miami County.

Though the county fire districts are generally more rural, there’s an urban component as well. Eight cities in the northeast part of the county — Roeland Park, Westwood, Westwood Hills, Prairie Village, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Mission and Fairway — are covered by Consolidated Fire District No. 2.

Residents in three of those county fire districts will pay higher tax rates — in some cases substantially higher — because of problems that range from the replacement of a fire engine to the loss of revenue from contracts with nearby cities.

Now some commissioners are wondering what needs to happen to sustain the districts in an increasingly urban county.

“I don’t have a simple answer,” said Commissioner Michael Ashcraft.

But he and Commissioner Steve Klika say the districts need to find a way to get on firmer footing. Commissioners encouraged the fire chiefs at a recent budget meeting to keep an open mind about “the C word” — consolidation — and other cost-saving strategies for the long term.

This was not a good year for most districts.

▪ The Northwest Consolidated Fire District, which includes De Soto and the rural northwest, asked for and received a 3 mill increase over its 15 mill rate. That’s a mill levy 20 percent higher for next year.

The mill rate is the basis for figuring property taxes. A mill equals $1 of tax per each $1,000 of taxable value.

▪ The Consolidated Fire District No. 2, covering eight of the smaller towns of the northeast, had the second-largest increase of 0.747, which is 6.79 percent higher than its current 11.003 mill rate.

▪ Fire District No. 1, serving Gardner, Edgerton and the southwest, had an increase of 0.272 mills, 1.76 percent higher than its current 15.448 mill levy.

▪ Only Fire District No. 2, in southern Johnson County, was able to keep its rate flat at 18.795 mills.

The four districts have independent governing boards and control over how they spend their own budgets. But the County Commission has the final OK over the mill levy rates.

The county fire districts have their roots in the rural Johnson County of days gone by. They gradually replaced the old township all-volunteer organizations that protected residents who live miles apart, far from hydrants and fire stations.

The idea was to give those farm families protection on par with that in the cities.

The De Soto Fire Department, for instance, dates back to the late 1800s, when the city’s fire engine was hand- or horse-pulled. The city fire department was formally founded in 1923, but relied completely on volunteers until the turn of the 21st century. The De Soto department merged with the former county Fire District No. 3 in 2010 to become Northwest Consolidated.

Southern Johnson County was served mostly by volunteers until as late as 1993. It officially became Fire District No. 2 in 1999.

Fire services in the rural districts have some unique challenges. One is vast distance. Fire District No. 1 serves about 100 square miles, including 13 miles of Interstate 35. Fire District No. 2 covers 140 square miles, and Northwest Consolidated about 70 square miles.

That means a basic knowledge of wildfire control is a must. Fire District No. 1 even sent a wildfire team of three to help out in Washington state recently. In addition, that district serves large industrial areas in the southwest, plus the New Century AirCenter.

The county’s increasing population and development has caused growing pains for the county fire districts. Neighboring city fire departments, with denser populations and high property values, can raise more money off a lower levy, and provide service at a lower cost. And when the cities annex rural areas, the remaining rural tax base takes a hit.

That adds up to a system that doesn’t feel equal, in the minds of some. That can be illustrated by looking at the differences between the county districts themselves. In the urban northeast district, the owner of a $261,000 home, which is the county average, will pay $352.68 in property taxes for fire services next year to support a budget of almost $11 million. That budget is more than twice as high as the next highest county fire district.

By comparison, a home of the same value in the Northwest Consolidated district will be taxed $540.27 to support a $2 million budget.

The situation is similar in other districts that have a lot of rural areas. The same value home in Fire District No. 2, covering southern Johnson County, will be taxed $564.13 next year toward a $5.3 million budget and in Fire District No. 1, covering the southwest, the tax will be $471.84 toward a $3.5 million budget.

Property tax is the main source of revenue for these districts, but money also comes in from a few other sources, including motor vehicle tax, cell tower revenue and contracts with nearby cities.

The sparser populations also may make a difference on how much homeowners will pay for insurance. Each district gets a rating from the Insurance Services Office, a for-profit rating agency, based on how many residents are within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant and how many live within five road miles of a fire station. Those ISO ratings may be a factor in how insurance rates are calculated.

Northwest Consolidated, Fire District No. 1 and Fire District No. 2 were given ratings that were worse than the desired Class 1 distinction. Only the northeast district, which is the most urban, recently received a Class 1 distinction overall.

The ISO ratings are becoming less dominant in rate setting, according to the fire chiefs and industry reports. Now insurance companies may use a wider variety of data to set rates.

Northwest Consolidated Chief Michael R. Whim compared the fire services to a dome, with most of the resources stacked up in the middle of the county and diminishing toward the western fringe. For example, he said, his Northwest Consolidated district has two people per truck, but the Shawnee fire department, from which he recently retired, has three to four per truck.

Whether rural residents are getting a lower level of service is open to debate, however. Some fire chiefs point out that a central dispatch and agreements of mutual aid between all city and county fire departments help to even out any potential distinctions between urban and rural. Someone with a “Code 1” emergency like a house fire will be sent the nearest available fire truck regardless of what district, for example. Lesser emergencies like car fires or falls may have to wait for the proper district to respond, however.

The urban district, Consolidated No. 2, did not seem to have an advantage in response times. Generally the times are at six minutes or under. Fire District No. 1 — a sprawling rural district — reported the quickest average response time of just under four minutes, while the urban northeast’s was slowest at six minutes, thirty seconds.

Each fire district was faced with its own unique challenges this year.

Northwest Consolidated: An aging fleet and a cap on taxes combined to drive this district’s budget over the edge this year. Northwest Consolidated will have the biggest increases both in spending and mill levy for 2016 of all the districts. Its annual budget will go from $1.8 million this year to $2 million next year.

The Northwest Consolidated district, created in 2010 with the merging of Johnson County Fire District No. 3 and the De Soto Fire Department, had a previous mill levy cap in place from when the district was created five years ago. That limit, 15 mills, was reached last year, prompting Whim to go to the state Legislature this year to get it removed.

It wasn’t enough to handle the replacement of a $550,000 fire engine, however. So Whim had to dip into cash reserves this year to come up with $200,000 toward replacing the 20-year-old truck. Meanwhile, other trucks in the fleet are aging, with the newest being 10 years old. Modern fire vehicles with fuel efficiency and better safety restraints are built to last six to eight years, Whim said.

But the budget doesn’t allow the luxury of replacing the trucks that often, he said. “We’ll be holding on to that truck just as long as we can get parts,” he said.

Consolidated Fire District No. 2: In some cases, adjacent cities find they can provide fire and rescue protection cheaper by teaming up.

That fact was partly responsible for Consolidated Fire District No. 2’s financial struggles the past couple of years. Consolidated Fire District No. 2 lost a $500,000-a-year contract to serve a portion of northern Overland Park last year when that city partnered with Merriam. This year, it lost a contract to cover a part of Overland Park between 95th Street and College Boulevard and Nall and Mission, resulting in a $340,000 loss of revenue.

Annexations, tax increment financing districts and nonprofit businesses also take their toll, said Jeff Scott, deputy chief of Consolidated Fire District No. 2. “It’s good for development; by no means am I against that,” he said.

Still, removing property from the tax rolls, as happened when the University of Kansas Cancer Center moved to Shawnee Mission Parkway, has an impact on the budget.

Fire District No. 1: An administrative glitch brought about some of this district’s woes this year.

The district had been receiving payments — erroneously, it turns out — from the county Airport Commission for protection to the New Century AirCenter airport and business park.

This was because of an agreement dating from 1992 that the commission would pay $291,000 a year for fire protection. At the time, AirCenter was certified for and hoped to eventually provide commercial passenger service. The Federal Aviation Administration required a higher level of fire and rescue services for airports with that designation.

The commercial flights never happened, and the airport eventually gave up its certification in 2001, so the enhanced service was no longer needed. Regular reviews of the agreement were supposed to have happened during that time, but didn’t, and the payments continued. Early this year, the county and FAA officials noticed the omission. The FAA said the airport commission could not continue its payments because of federal rules that say airport commission money could not be used for that type of expense.

The fire district won’t be completely without compensation, but it will be less than in years past. Beginning next year, the payment will shift over to the county general fund. And it’s being reduced gradually, from $227,364 next year to $100,000 by 2018, an eventual loss of $191,000 a year. Officials say that continuing development will bring new property on the tax rolls, eventually increasing the tax revenue.

Fire District No. 2: Although Fire District 2, serving southern Johnson County, did not have to ask for a tax rate increase, it has had its own issues this year. The district got approval from the County Commission for about $2.7 million of bonds so it can build a replacement for the Stilwell fire station. That 41-year-old building was too small to meet the fire district’s needs.

The new station, about a half mile north of the current one on Metcalf Avenue, drew questions from Ashcraft at the time because of its proximity to another new station about 4 1/2 miles away being built in Overland Park. But at the time, Fire Chief Jim Francis said the station is still needed to maintain a good response time for residents of the southern part of the county. If response time goes down, homeowners may have to pay higher insurance premiums, he said at the time.

Although the tax rate stayed constant this year, Francis said annexation would pose future challenges. The district provides service to a chunk of land recently annexed to Overland Park, but that contract may end in 2021 if the city builds its own station in that area. There are also questions about how a property tax lid set by the Kansas Legislature will affect fire districts once it goes into effect in 2018, he said.

All those problems have some commissioners concerned about the future sustainability of the districts.

“The Band-Aids are in place again,” Commissioner Steve Klika said of the recent tax rate increases. “There’s no concerted strategic plan in trying to get this thing all figured out.”

Klika said that although the quality of service is good, he’d like to see more joint planning between the county and city districts. Consolidation might decrease some administrative costs, he said. For example, “Is there a way to move equipment around and get a more balanced mill levy?”

“You have four different operations, four different interest groups,” he said at a budget meeting earlier. “The questions comes into play, is that the best model?”

Klika said his initial reaction was to vote against the mill increases, but agreed to support them “one last time” as long as the districts get a hard look at efficiencies this year.

Ashcraft also warned of “adult conversations, tough conversations,” about the districts in the coming year. “I’m still concerned the current structure is not sustainable,” he said at the budget meeting.

“I’m not pushing one strategy,” he said in a later interview. But he indicated he’d be willing to at least consider moving toward an organization that might include city and county fire departments under one umbrella. If Johnson County were created anew today, would it have so many fire districts and departments, he questioned.

“Or is there a better model?” he said.

The fire chiefs for the most part said they were open to having those discussions, but with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Whim said equality of service between rural and urban areas is his main goal.

“I’m open to exploring federal funding, state funding,” Whim said. “I’d like to get rid of the dome and equalize service to the corners (of the county).”

“If the only recourse is raising taxes, I don’t like that,” Whim said.

Fire district officials and the commission have been working on this issue a long time, said Francis. He recalled a task force at least a dozen years ago on the same subject. Since then, the De Soto and Fire District No. 3 consolidated, and Fire District No. 1 is working on a consolidation with Gardner. Fire chiefs talk regularly about how to save money by sharing resources, he said.

“We’ve been having this discussion for a very long time,” said Francis. “It’s a discussion we should all have for the benefit of the taxpayers.”

But he said action is unlikely until there’s more of a consensus among the districts’ governing boards.

The interdistrict cooperation and consolidations made over the years have done a lot already, said Chief Rob Kirk of Fire District No. 1. “We’re about as close to being consolidated as we can be,” he said of the county districts.

“What it comes down to is the mills,” said Kirk. “How can you get those mills to the same level so all customers pay for the same fire services,” he said.

Scott, deputy fire chief of Consolidated Fire District No. 2, agreed. “Geographically the districts are not next to each other. I’m not sure how it would work.”

“We’d be glad to sit down at the table with everybody else,” Scott said.

County Commission Chairman Ed Eilert, however, said the initiative needs to come from the fire districts rather than the commission.

“For the commission to take the position we’re from the county and we know best is not the way to go about it,” Eilert said. “It has to come from the ground up, in my judgment.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "County fire districts adapt with changing times."