Verde Valley Fire chief outlines proposed JPA, station plan and legislative risks

The Verde Valley Fire District on Feb. 10 told the Clarkdale Town Council that a proposed joint powers authority could strengthen regional firefighting capacity while avoiding cuts to frontline services.

Fire Chief Danny Johnson presented the district’s 2025 statistics — 3,518 calls districtwide, 736 from Clarkdale’s station, 2,350 patient transports and 273 fire-related calls — and said a JPA would preserve “the same crews” while consolidating administrative and certain leadership functions. “This isn’t a rescue plan,” Johnson said, adding the model focuses on “same team, same dollars” and aims to standardize operations, training and prevention across neighboring districts.

Johnson said the district won two national finance awards and passed a bond last year with 74.2% voter support, and that the district plans to begin planning, design and construction on a Clarkdale station in 2026, with the first bond sales expected in spring. He said bond-market ratings and coordinated finance could reduce borrowing costs and enable the districts to invest in a new engine and regional communication systems.

Explaining the JPA concept, Johnson said it would combine leadership, administration and operations without dissolving individual districts. He argued the structure would provide steadier staffing, more consistent training and improved emergency coordination and cited ISO rating implications: keeping a split ISO 3/10 rating depends on stronger regional prevention and hydrant coverage support.

On finances, Johnson said preliminary budget scenarios show a narrow variance (a roughly $191,000 surplus to $202,000 overrun on a preliminary combined budget) and that efficiencies would come from consolidating duplicate administrative roles (shared HR and finance) rather than reducing firefighter staffing.

Johnson also warned of state-level risks: he is tracking roughly 106 bills this legislative session that affect fire districts, including proposals that he said could force closure of many rural stations if passed. As president of the Arizona Fire District Association, he said he’s pushing legislation to include fire districts in municipal cancer-fund coverage and urged council support for outreach to legislators.

Council members asked about potential downsides, community engagement and whether the public would retain local ties to firefighters; Johnson offered to return with station-location options and further briefings. He said the boards hope to decide to begin building the JPA in April and, if so, would aim for an implementation timeline of roughly one year so that any adoption aligns with fiscal-year boundaries.

The district asked for continued community input and said it would bring further presentations as plans and finances mature.