East County task force flags $50M-range estimate for adding fire stations as regional planners seek comparisons

Staff reported on the May 8 East County Regional Task Force meeting where a financial analysis considered options to move the region toward an 8.333-station model. The consultant’s raw estimate placed additional station-related capital and operating costs in the low-to-mid $50 million range; staff said the group asked for comparables (per-FTE, per-station and per-capita averages) from similarly sized departments to better understand assumptions and alternatives. "They put that cost somewhere in a call in the low to mid $50,000,000 range," staff said when describing the analysis.