The San Diego City Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday a proposal to ask voters for approval to raise $200 million in bond funds for fire station construction in San Diego. The council will decide whether to direct staff to draft a measure for the November general election ballot that would authorize two bonds totaling $205 million.
The revenue would fund construction of nearly 20 fire stations designed to fill geographical gaps where response times are longer than the standard of 7 minutes, 30 seconds.
Because the bond would raise property taxes, two-thirds voter approval would be necessary for passage.
A Folsom-based consultant, Citygate, found in 2010 that San Diego was in need of 19 new fire stations, of which 10 were considered critical.
It was discovered since then that the mechanism used to judge response times was flawed, so Citygate was re-hired to provide an update of their report. According to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Chief Brian Fennessy, the results won't be much different, but they could revise planned locations, priorities or even the number of stations needed.