This article is part of a continuing series The Times is running between now and the upcoming property tax election in May. This article provides information related to the public safety service contracts the town has with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Rural/Metro Corp.

Public safety services for those living in Fountain Hills have evolved over the years, even dating back prior to the incorporation the town in 1998.

Rural/Metro was first hired by the developer in the early ‘70s to provide fire protection and some security services. At that time the community was fairly remote within unincorporated Maricopa County, so there were no regular patrols by the Sheriff’s Office, only response from Cave Creek or Mesa when called, or an occasional drive through by a deputy.

As the population increased these services were also increased. A Fire District was formed to fund upgraded manpower and service on the fire and medical side while MCSO had a deputy in town most of the time.

After incorporation the Fire District continued operations, funded through a secondary property tax. The town began to weigh options regarding law enforcement and early on formed a Marshal’s Department with an aim of growing it into a local police department. At the same time it entered into a contract with MCSO to handle substantial duties the Marshal’s Department was unprepared to take care of.

Eventually, the duo law enforcement system was in conflict as the Marshals increased their duties.

The board of commissioners for the Fire District made the decision in late 2000 to sever its ties with Rural/Metro and operate the fire department on its own. The transition would take about a year.

It was in the fall 2001 when the town council, which is by law ultimately responsible for fire protection in the community, made the decision to dissolve the Fire District and retain the contract with Rural/Metro.

At roughly the same time the council disbanded the Marshal’s Department and entered into an ongoing contract with MCSO.

The town is proposing to use funding from the proposed primary property tax to offset the projected annual increase for these contracts.

Cost

The 2002/2003 Fiscal Year was the first time the two public safety contracts appeared together in the budget. At that time the services accounted for 34 percent of the General Fund budget. The total for the two contracts at that time was $5,019,650.

For the 2017/2018 Fiscal Year the total cost of the contracts has reached $7,737,459 and account for roughly 50 percent of the General Fund budget.

Town staff has determined that, at least for the foreseeable future, the contract services are the most efficient and economical method for the town to provide public safety services.

The most recent contract with Rural/Metro extends to five years with an additional three optional years. The contract includes an automatic increase of 3 percent per year.

Looking ahead 10 years on the MCSO contract, the town is anticipating increases averaging 10 percent per year. Those significant increases are due mostly to higher costs to fund the pension for deputies through the state’s public safety pension fund. This is a situation that is costing nearly all communities in the Valley and state significantly. While the town has no involvement with the public safety pension fund, the MCSO contract is based on cost recovery that includes those pension payments.

Rural/Metro

What does the town receive for the money it pays to Rural/Metro and MCSO?

The Rural/Metro agreement is essentially a manpower and management agreement. The Fire District began the practice of paying for department facilities and the equipment used. Now all of the trucks and equipment, as well as the fire stations, are owned by the town.

The Rural/Metro agreement provides the town with eight firefighters and two chief officers each shift (per day). That breaks down to two captains, two engineers and four fighters, split between the two stations. Of those eight, five are paramedic certified.

While two ambulances are quartered in Fountain Hills they are not part of the contract. They are part of the overall transport network operated by Rural/Metro and the units are in and out of town on other calls some of the time.

Each ambulance has one EMT certified and one paramedic on board. On the ambulance quartered at Fire Station #1 on Palisades Boulevard the personnel are both firefighter certified. Personnel on the other ambulance, currently stationed at the shopping center at Shea Boulevard and Eagle Mountain Parkway, are not.

For the 2016/2017 fiscal year (July through June) firefighters responded to 3,425 incidents, mostly medical and the occasional special duty such as a snake removal. That averages out to 285 calls per month, or a fraction fewer than 10 per day.

The numbers for the first eight months of the current fiscal year (through February) are similar; the monthly average is 287 on a total of 2,303.

Sheriff

A few years back the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office established District 7 based in Fountain Hills. It covers primarily Fountain Hills, but deputies stationed here also respond to unincorporated county in the Verde Communities and Rio Verde Foothills, as well as Goldfield Ranch. The outside coverage is accounted for in the contract.

The personnel operating from Fountain Hills include a commander with rank of captain and a lieutenant serving as second in command. There are seven patrol sergeants to supervise 20 patrol deputies over different shifts.

There is one detective sergeant supervising three detectives in the district. Staff also includes one community outreach deputy, one school resource officer assigned to the Fountain Hills Unified School District and one civilian administrative assistant.

Without maintaining dedicated presence in Fountain Hills, MCSO has additional resource available to the community that do not add to the cost. Those include homicide, child crimes special victims unit, arson, forensics unit, communications-dispatch, K9, SWAT and Aviation, search and rescue, volunteer posse and Text-a-Tip, which actually originated in Fountain Hills.

The Sheriff’s Office also works with the community with various outreach program including National Drug Takeback Day, Fountain Hills Coalition, Coffee with a Cop, Froyo, Cops and Kids (frozen yogurt), and events such as Back to School Bash, Fourth at the Fountain, Senior Action Day, summer reading programs and speaking engagements (upon request).

Between 2014 and 2017 Sheriff’s deputies in District 7 responded to 21,739 calls for service reflecting an increase of 6 percent over those four years.

During 2017 deputies made 76 arrests, wrote 894 citations and made 137 crash reports.

Also, in 2017, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report estimates reflect 190 property crimes, or 7.6 per 1,000 of population; the lowest number in three years.

The UCR for violent crime in Fountain Hills shows 14 incidents, or .06 per 1,000 of population; also the lowest number in three years.

Correction:

According to Chief Dave Ott the current contract is for five years to end on June 30, 2022. The agreement also includes two extension options of two years each.