Officials have resolved a value dispute over property where the
city plans to build Fire Station No. 2, and the City Council could
approve a contract for its construction by early January.
City officials had been negotiating with the owner of the land
on Union Road since July.
But the two sides recently reached a settlement, and Hollister
paid $1.07 million for the property
– about $300,000 more than the original appraisal, according to
City Attorney Elaine Cass.
The city also recently received bids from several contractors,
and the lowest offer is slightly less than the city’s initial
projections, according to officials.
Officials have resolved a value dispute over property where the city plans to build Fire Station No. 2, and the City Council could approve a contract for its construction by early January.
City officials had been negotiating with the owner of the land on Union Road since July.
But the two sides recently reached a settlement, and Hollister paid $1.07 million for the property – about $300,000 more than the original appraisal, according to City Attorney Elaine Cass.
The city also recently received bids from several contractors, and the lowest offer is slightly less than the city’s initial projections, according to officials.
The entire project was estimated to cost about $4 million. Construction should start sometime in late January and is expected to last about a year.
The city acquired the 4-acre lot at 1200 Union Road through an eminent domain process, which allows government agencies to seize needed land plots and buy them at market rates. Hollister officials began pursing the property in the summer of 2002.
But the property owner, Richard Hall, disputed the city’s appraised value of $730,000. He filed a lawsuit against Hollister in San Benito County Superior Court this past summer. The city and Hall each commissioned additional appraisals and came up with $1.07 million, Cass said.
“I think we need to continue moving forward,” Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia said, “because if we don’t, it’s never going to get done. As far as staffing it, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Meanwhile, the Council, struggling with budget constraints, must consider employee cuts in the coming weeks – possibly 23 percent of the workforce could be let go by July, say Council members.
The entire workforce is under examination, including firefighters. So the possibility of hiring additional firefighters during next summer’s budget planning – to staff a newly built station – is not likely, officials say.
“It’ll probably be a fire station with nobody in it,” Councilman Robert Scattini said. “It’ll probably be used for storage or something. We’re not going to be hiring anybody.”
The city employs 24 full-time firefighters, according to Fire Chief Bill Garringer. Over the past year, three were hired specifically for the second station, he said.
But that was before the city’s financial outlook corroded. In July, the Council budgeted to draw more than $700,000 from the General Fund reserve during the current fiscal year.
And more recently, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed a tax hike that previously allocated about $1.4 million annually to Hollister, according to City Manager Dale Shaddox. Moreover, the city could immediately lose $750,000 – or about five percent of its General Fund budget.
“It looks pretty bleak,” Scattini said.
The new station would be funded by the Redevelopment Agency, which is financially sound after a $35 million bond issuance in August. But funding additional firefighters would have to come out of the reeling General Fund, officials said.
“We’re kind of sticking our necks out doing this fire station,” Mayor Tony Bruscia said. “But we know that we need it.”
Some residents and fire department personnel have grumbled about a perceived lack of fire protection services in town. Hollister, according to Garringer, is far below the national standard of personnel responding to fires.
Garringer is holding out hope the city may obtain funding for staffing through a federal program awaiting approval or rejection by President Bush. It’s called the SAFER Act, and it would provide $7.6 billion to local jurisdictions to hire additional firefighters.
It would fund 90 percent of new salaries in the first year, 80 percent in the second, 50 percent in the third and 30 percent in the fourth. After that, the city would have to pay the full amount for at least one more year.
The funding, however, is awarded competitively. So Hollister would have to go through a grant application process.
Garringer believes, if successful, the city could obtain the funding in time for Fire Station No. 2’s opening, he said.
