What the city calls a $6million overcharge to Thousand Oaks taxpayers for fire services was defended by Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) officials.

At a county supervisor meeting on Aug. 11, Fire Chief Bob Roper said a recommendation by a consultant to the city of T.O. that the money should stay in Thousand Oaks to enhance services didn’t take into consideration the net effect that decision would have on regional fire district services.

“The fire district strongly believes that there are greater benefits to a regional form of firerescue services than having many individual agencies,” Roper said in a report.

He listed the benefits, including lower overall costs, speed and depth of resource deployment, better geographic coverage during high-emergency demands and more resources for training.

“Emergencies do not recognize jurisdictional lines,” he said.

Giving better service to areas that pay the most property taxes would be unfair, according to Roper. As an example, he described the owners of two identical homes, side by side. They would pay different property taxes, Roper said, depending on when they purchased their homes.

Homeowner A could pay twice as much as homeowner B if A purchased a home in 1980 and B bought the same home in 2005.

“In the ultimate returntosource system, homeowner B would expect twice as much fire, rescue, emergency medical services from the fire district as homeowner A,” Roper said.

“I agree we need a regional system,” said Supervisor Linda Parks after the meeting.

Parks said she prefers “a seamless system that puts resources where the needs are.”

In June 2007, the city initiated a consultantled review of services delivered to the city by the county fire district. When the final report was presented to the City Council in November 2007, the council expressed concern over what appeared to be a $6million gap between what was taken from Thousand Oaks property tax payers and the amount of services provided to them.

“The quality of the service has never been an issue,” said Councilmember Dennis Gillette.

Gillette said he was “disappointed” after examining the information presented to the Ventura County supervisors but added that he didn’t want to comment further until the City Council meets on the matter and discusses it together.

VCFD is expected to make a presentation to the City Council in September.

According to city spokesperson Andrew Powers, “The city of Thousand Oaks remains committed to working with Fire Chief Bob Roper to provide the most efficient and effective fire services possible to the Thousand Oaks residential and business communities.”

He also said the fire services report was “completed by a highly respected independent consulting firm selected jointly by the fire department and city.”

He said that report identified nine areas where services should be improved and enhanced.

One of the recommendations involves putting a fire station within the more densely populated area of Westlake Village.

“The city of Thousand Oaks remains committed to working closely with Fire Chief Roper to implement the consultant’s recommendations in order to achieve City Council’s goal of being one of the safest cities in the nation,” Powers said.