For quicker emergency response to north Morro Bay, local property owners may be asked to pay up to $90 a year.
The fire station on Harbor Street is swamped with calls, according to city officials, and response times to the north Morro Bay are lagging. The department received 1,515 emergency service calls in 2003, more than any other single station in the county.
To fund improvements to the old station and staff and remodel another on Bonita Street in north Morro Bay, the city is pursuing a vote of property owners to form a benefit assessment district.
The Emergency Services Ad-Hoc Committee, formed by the city to address fire department issues, supports forming the tax district because it only needs a simple majority of property owners instead of two-thirds voter approval, as some other kinds of elections require.
Also, ballots are cast by mail and the city doesn't need to wait for a general election. Votes are weighted based on how much property they own.
Cambria recently formed a benefit assessment district for its fire service. Based on that town's estimates, Morro Bay expects to spend $30,000 to analyze costs and run an election, with a goal of generating $650,000 to $800,000 per year.
"It's really important because ... our fire department is our first line of defense," said Keith Taylor, president of the Friends of the Morro Bay Fire Department. "This is just an insurance to make sure that we have what we need to take care of the community."
"People just take the fire department for granted, and you can't."
Others, however, think the city could go about improving fire service simply by putting one station in a more central location.
"Use the former skating rink property for a new fire station," suggested Morro Bay resident Dolores Butterfield. "There would be no need to have two fire stations."
Patrick Gorey, also of Morro Bay, agreed.
"Do not encourage two full-time fire stations," he wrote in an e-mail to the city, adding that the "city is only six miles from tip to tip. One station should suffice."
The ad-hoc committee also suggested selling city property at San Jacinto Street, formerly thought to be a good location for a northern fire station that has since proved too problematic.
That should net the city at least $2 million, based on surrounding property values.
The city could use that money to pay for fire station renovations but would still need an assessment district to create an ongoing funding source for staffing the extra fire station, according to city officials.
