The City Council is currently considering annexation of the Sausalito Fire Department into the Southern Fire District (SFD).  The SFD is now comprised of Tam Junction and the Strawberry unincorporated areas and is governed by an elected Board of Directors from these two areas.   If Sausalito were to join, we would represent approximately one-third of the area covered by SFD with the other two areas representing the remaining two-thirds.   The primary driver of this consolidation is cost.   Costs to operate the fire department have risen over the past several years primarily due to personnel costs and increased costs to comply with governmental regulations.  Sausalito entered into an agreement with the SFD several years ago to provide upper level management of our fire department in an effort to cut costs.  The agreement expires this year.

The City needs to determine whether to 1) reestablish an independent fire department, 2) continue with a City/SFD agreement,  or 3) agree to have the SFD annex the Sausalito Fire Department.  The options come down to a matter of cost and control.   According to a consultant’s report (see link below), reestablishing Sausalito’s own fire department provides the most control but is the most costly.  Continuing the current agreement with the SFD or having the SFD annex Sausalito is roughly the same price.  The difference in these two alternatives is that Sausalito would retain more control of personnel and finances with an agreement than with consolidation.   SFD consolidation/annexation requires that Sausalito turn over 30% of the City’s property tax revenue in perpetuity to the SFD and accepts a new fire property fee at $90 per parcel.

Link for further information: