Fire district looks to assessment vote instead of parcel tax Fire district looks to assessment vote instead of parcel tax (May 05, 2004)

By Renee Batti
Almanac News Editor

Atherton, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto residents are likely to get a ballot in their mailboxes this summer or fall asking them to tax themselves more for fire suppression services if the state continues taking money away from local governments.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection Board, which had been considering placing a parcel tax measure on November's ballot, on April 20 directed staff to instead prepare for a special assessment vote, which would entail a mailed ballot and require a smaller majority for approval than the two-thirds required for passage of a parcel tax.

Board members said they want property owners to kick in more money for services only if the state boosts the amount of property taxes it takes from the district to give to schools, as it is threatening to do in fiscal year 2004-05, said Chief Paul Wilson. "This is only a contingency plan," he said.

Whereas parcel taxes require a two-thirds-majority vote to pass, a special assessment passes with only 50 percent of voters, plus one, endorsing the measure. The equation becomes complicated, however, because votes are weighted according to "risk classification," Chief Wilson said.

For example, he said, businesses such as SRI have a higher fire risk classification than a small mom-and-pop business; and the small business would have a higher classification than a single-family home.

Under the "weighted" ballot process, owners of businesses with the highest rate classification would have more votes than lower-risk property owners, but would also be assessed much higher taxes if the measure passes.

District officials are concerned about current proposals in Sacramento that would short the district an estimated $1.4 million next fiscal year, which begins in July. Even without that loss, the district is projecting a $1 million deficit next fiscal year.

The new state-proposed tax shift would be in addition to the approximately $2.2 million the district already loses annually because of the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) maneuver the state put in place in 1992, when it was reeling under another recession.

The ERAF shift reallocates local property tax revenues from cities, counties and special districts to help cover the state's share of school funding. Local governments have weathered the tax shift during economic good times, but are now groaning under the burden as California's economy continues to ail.

Fire board members have sharply criticized the state for past and threatened new ERAF "money grabs," and say that extra taxes on local property owners may be the only way to continue the level of fire suppression and emergency medical services now provided by the district.

In June 1993, when the fire district's budget was on shaky ground and officials were uncertain about how hard the district would be hit by the first ERAF shift, it put a $1.8 million annual parcel tax on the ballot. It, too, was a fail-safe measure that would be put into effect only if the district determined it was necessary to maintain services, said board president Ollie Brown.

The measure passed, but the tax was never enacted because the economy improved, he said.

In directing staff on April 20 to prepare for a special assessment vote, fire board members said they want the balloting to occur before the November election. They agreed that a consultant should be hired to determine risk classification of properties and to handle the ballot mailing, Chief Wilson said.

The district provides fire suppression services to 22,500 private parcels and 300 publicly owned parcels, according to records.

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