Who ya gonna call?
And equally important, who is going to respond?
If you live in the city of Littleton, northern parts of Highlands Ranch, or eastern portions of south Jefferson County and call 911 today, Littleton Fire Rescue will respond.
For many years, the city and its partners, the Littleton Fire Protection District and Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District, have been proud of the high-quality fire protection and emergency medical services provided to residents. But the question of who will respond in the future may be up for grabs.
The issues are complex. The two special districts contract with the city of Littleton to run Littleton Fire Rescue, and the city makes all administrative, staffing, equipping and budgetary decisions. The special districts can make recommendations on policy issues, but ultimately the City Council makes the final decisions that affect the welfare of 200,000 people.
That arrangement worked well when Littleton, population 41,000, was larger than its contracting partners. But today, Littleton is overshadowed by its “big dog” neighbors. The firefighters union, the Littleton Firefighters Association, is supporting the idea of establishing a new fire authority that would encompass all three entities and give all partners an even voice in governance.
A complication to such a plan is that while the two special districts are funded by dedicated property taxes, which are relatively stable, the city’s revenues come largely from sales taxes. In these economic times, sales taxes are down in most municipalities, Littleton among them. So the fire department budget has to compete for funding with other basic city services. As a result, any proposal to give up decision-making authority is likely to be a hard sell to the Littleton City Council.
Littleton’s mayor, Douglas Clark, not known for championing regional partnerships, last fall publicly invited the two special districts to “go elsewhere” if they don’t like having the city make funding and staffing decisions. The reality is that the two special districts could indeed go elsewhere, to much larger districts, chiefly the South Metro Fire Rescue and/or the West Metro Fire Protection District.
That would leave Littleton with a small fire and rescue staff and just two fire stations to serve its residents. And already the city, with its aging population, is seeing more per capita emergency medical calls than the two districts, where the population is younger.
Could Littleton’s fire service survive as a stand-alone entity? The recent history of small fire/EMS departments in the metro area is not encouraging.
Without the economies of scale that the two larger districts bring to Littleton, it would be difficult for the city to continue to provide its residents with prompt, high-quality services at a low cost. If the special districts join with a fire district on their borders, it is likely that their residents would be required to pay far higher property taxes.
So far, the public has been kept pretty well in the dark about the tensions surrounding governance of Littleton Fire Rescue. That’s unfortunate, for unless relationships improve, citizens who now benefit from a partnership that has worked well for many years almost certainly face increased costs or a reduction in services.
Susan Thornton (smthornton@) served 16 years on the Littleton City Council, including eight years as mayor.
