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Voters in the Menlo Park Fire Protection District on Tuesday agreed Tuesday to give the district the authority to raise its annual spending limit from $25 million to $40 million. With all 66 precincts reporting, the measure won easily, 3,132 to 1,094, the San Mateo County Elections Office reported.
The measure, which needed only a simple majority of votes to pass and received 74 percent, will be in effect for four years.
The turnout was very light. In a district with 40,570 registered voters, only 4,324 ballots were cast, about 11 percent, the Elections Office reported.
District board members decided to ask voters to approve the higher spending limit — also known as the appropriations limit — because they expect revenues to exceed the current limit in each of the next four fiscal years.
“The change in appropriations limit … allows the District to fully use revenues that have already been approved,” the board members say in a ballot argument in favor of the measure.
Last year, the board asked voters to renew the $25 million limit for four years by approving Measure O, which passed by a wide margin. Since then, they realized that revenues were likely to exceed that level.
Board members cite the increase in the number and size of buildings the district is charged with protecting, as well as increased demand for services — including prevention, emergency and disaster preparedness, and public education — in their appeal for a higher spending limit.
