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Comparison of Per Capita Cost of Fire and Emergency Medical Services The cities of Eugene and Salem are similar in area, population, and level of urban development, and so offer a reasonable basis for comparison of costs of fire and emergency medical services. Springfield is smaller but in other regards it is similar to Eugene and Salem. Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue RFPD provides services to a much larger and more diverse territory. It covers ten cities as well as unincorporated urban and rural areas with various levels of development, and with a much larger total population than Eugene, Salem, or Springfield. The following table shows the FY05 budgeted costs for each jurisdiction's fire and emergency medical services, adjusted to include only costs of common program elements. Adjusted, comparable costs include personnel, material & services, central administrative and capital outlay costs for preventative and emergency response services within the jurisdiction's limits. Costs of delivering emergency services outside the cities' boundaries under contracts with neighboring districts are excluded, as are non-emergency ambulance transport, budgeted grant expenditures, capital construction and debt service. Estimated Cost per Capita 2004 Population Comparable FY05 Budgeted for Services within within Jurisdiction Costs within Jurisdiction Jurisdiction Salem Fire Department 143,700' $ 17,292,020 ** $ 120 Springfield Fire & Life Safety 55,350* $ 6,599,074** $ 119 Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue 418,000 $ 59,445,167 $ 142 '* excludes population of contracted service areas outside city limits; **excludes contractual services outside city limits) This brief analysis shows similar per capita costs of delivering fire and emergency medical services within the cities of Salem, Eugene and Springfield. However, delivery of services by Tualatin Fire & Rescue RFPD is more expensive on a per capita basis. The much greater distances and diversity of area served by the RFPD may be reasons for this higher per capita cost in comparison to the cities' per capita cost. Background on Rural Fire Protection Districts A rural fire protection district is a special district permitted under ORS Chapter 478. A RFPD can provide fire protection and emergency medical services to both rural and urban areas. Incorporated areas may be included within the district with the consent of the city council. An existing RPFD can expand through annexation of territory, or a new district might be formed, to provide services to a city. An elected five-member board of directors governs rural fire protection districts, which are independent municipal corporations. Formation of a district with a permanent tax rate limit for operating revenues is subject to the constitutional double majority requirement or it may be placed on a general election ballot in an even-numbered year. In the case of annexation of city territory to a district that already has a permanent tax rate limit the current district tax limit is extended to the newly annexed area to support the extension of district services to the new area. A vote on the annexation will be required if requested by petition. Formation, annexation and other boundary changes for this type of district in Lane County are under Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission jurisdiction. The Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) policies control the formation of special districts within the boundary of the plan. A proposal to form or annex to a rural fire protection district will require the approval of the Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission. Since the