LAGUNA NIGUEL

The city’s refund from the Orange County Fire Authority will be double the amount it expected, thanks to a decision by the authority’s Board of Directors to reassess reimbursements to so-called donor cities. The authority will refund $330,000 of what the city pays for services. The city, which has the third-highest membership fee, paid $6.12 million last year. For 1997, Laguna Niguel got back about $114,000. City officials had asked for higher refunds for the cities that donate the most money, said Mayor Mark Goodman. What a city pays into the authority is determined by property taxes and expected fire damage to the area, Goodman said.