The District currently budgets for a payment to the City every year. The exact amount of that payment is unknown as it is based on call volume. Generally the District subtracts an amount for technical support services and specialized resources from the amount it owes the City for automatic aid. The last payment to the City was for $226,119.35 for aid and services provided in fiscal year 2014-15. The District has budgeted $225,000 in the current year for aid and services provided in fiscal year 2015-16.

The attached agreements between the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (District) and the City of Richmond Fire Department (City) are for 1) the exchange of fire, rescue, and emergency medical services, and 2) technical support services and specialized resources. The agreements memorialize the District and City's current practice of dispatching resources and responding to emergencies in the other agency’s service area. The Automatic Aid Agreement includes a financial component, wherein the agency with the lower call volume (typically the District) reimburses the agency with the higher call volume based on agreed upon rates. There is a separate but related agreement whereby the City may request technical support services and/or specialized resources from the District. The latter agreement also contains a financial component that allows the City to reimburse the District for those services and resources.  
  
In practice the District and City have had an automatic aid agreement continuously since 2006. The agreement lapsed between 2001 and 2006, largely due to the inequitable distribution of calls and disagreements involving dispatch services and radio equipment and frequency. In 2006, after three children died in a fire on the City/unincorporated border, the District 1 Supervisor requested that the District and City resume automatic aid services until a new agreement could be reached. An agreement was eventually developed but it was not executed by all parties and was not calendared for Fire Board or City Council approval.  
  
In the meantime the District and the City have been adhering to the terms of that unexecuted agreement. Because there is an annual payment component to the agreement, all parties felt it was critical to work toward an executable agreement that could be calendared for Fire Board and City Council approval. The District and City have been negotiating terms since 2015; the attached agreements are amenable to all parties. It should be noted that the effective date of the agreements is July 1, 2015. That effective date allows the District to compensate the City for calls during fiscal year 2015-16 and for the City to compensate the District for any technical support during this time frame. All prior years have been settled.

The agreement will not be approved the Fire Board of Directors. The Auditor-Controller does not wish to continue making payments to the City without a Board approved agreement. Since the City tends to respond into the District's area more often that the District responds into the City's area, the City may decide that having automatic aid agreement without a financial component is untenable. Alternatively, the City may continue to provide aid but limit the number of resources they provide.

Approximately 10% of emergency medical service responses involve children under the age of 15.