San Benito County to look into options for new fire services provider

San Benito County is preparing to “take a step back,” in the words of Supervisor Dom Zanger, from its longstanding partnership with the City of Hollister for fire services. 

The board of supervisors scheduled a special meeting on March 26 to discuss recent developments in the county’s, Hollister’s and the City of San Juan Bautista’s efforts to keep their existing contractual arrangement intact. 

The meeting followed months of negotiations, discussions and even renegotiations among the three parties—culminating on March 24 with a Hollister City Council decision to reject the county’s latest proposal and approve a 270-day notice to terminate the existing contract for fire protection services for the county and San Juan Bautista. 

In response, the county board on March 26 voted 3-2 to direct staff to look into two options that remove the county’s dependence on Hollister: contracting with Cal Fire for unincorporated county fire services, or creating an independent San Benito County fire department. 

Voting against that motion were Supervisors Angela Curro and Mindy Sotelo. 

The biggest challenge in renewing or continuing the county’s fire contract with Hollister is financial. Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez noted that the cost of fire and public safety services is climbing among all providers—not just the county and Hollister—while public revenues available to fund those services cannot keep up. 

Officials added that the City of Hollister is asking the county to increase its share of the fire services contract to an unaffordable level. Provisions that the parties—including the City of San Juan Bautista—have been unable to agree on include minimum staffing levels, and whether the contract should include a “brownout” delayed closure of an existing fire station. 

Zanger noted the county simply does not have the funding to be able to accommodate the increased costs sought by Hollister. If the county were to increase its share of the contract to meet those provisions, the board would have to cut from other services such as the sheriff’s office and road repairs.

“If the city is asking for so much more from us, I don’t know how that would work out,” Zanger said. “If someone can convince me that we can somehow find millions of dollars to give to the city, I would be open to hearing that. But I don’t know where that would come from other than cutting other public safety.”

The City of Hollister has provided fire services to the unincorporated county and San Juan Bautista since 2013. The contracts were renegotiated in 2016 and 2019. 

In June 2024, the Hollister City Council approved a notice to terminate the contract, but later agreed to open negotiations. The council again approved such a notice on March 24, after rejecting an amendment submitted days earlier by the county board to brownout Fire Station 3. 

On March 18, the San Juan Bautista City Council rejected a proposal for a new fire contract with Hollister. 

Hollister officials in recent months have complained that under existing contracts, the city has been subsidizing fire services for the county and San Juan Bautista. In 2023-24, the county paid $2.2 million for fire services and San Juan Bautista paid about $260,000. Hollister has funded the balance of the $14 million total fire services budget. 

The county board on March 26 asked county staff to return to the next regular meeting, scheduled for April 8, with more information on a potential contract with Cal Fire or the creation of an independent county fire department. 

Curro noted that those options could prove just as costly, if not more so, than Hollister’s proposal. Velazquez responded that seeking those cost estimates is part of the process for determining the next step.