San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig presided over two Town Hall meetings in the Morongo Basin yesterday. The first, at 4:00 p.m., was at the Wonder Valley Community Center; the second was at 6:30 in the Yucca Valley Community Center. Hartwig was here to try to sell a proposed property tax increase of about $157 a year to backfill budget shortfalls for the County Fire Department.
County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig warned the residents who turned out that the annual assessment was necessary for the continued survival of county fire services. “We must look at service cuts or raise revenue throughout the (fire protection) district,” he said. Reporter Mike Lipsitz reports on the Wonder Valley meeting…
About 60 people turned out yesterday to hear from county fire personnel about the proposed expansion and per parcel tax. The expansion would bring almost all of the county’s unincorporated communities as well as Yucca Valley into Fire Protection District 5, a total of 19,000 square miles. The proposal comes in response to a $29.3 million budget shortfall that county fire is grappling to manage. The shortfall is not new. In recent years the department has relied on bailouts from the board of supervisors and has spent down reserves from $43 million to less than $4 million in as many years.
The future of the now closed Wonder Valley Fire Station was a chief concern for many at yesterday’s meeting. That station was closed more than a year ago because, according to county fire, of contaminated water there. Hartwig said dealing with the water issue and reopening the station was something the department wants to see, but the current climate doesn’t allow any guarantees. Property owners can protest and theoretically kill the plan in an upcoming special protest vote.
After visiting Wonder Valley Wednesday to explain the proposed expansion into the county’s Fire Protection District 5, County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig went to Yucca Valley where his message was the same. Managing editor Tami Roleff attended the Yucca Valley meeting, where Hartwig said Yucca Valley residents would benefit from the proposed expansion…
The county fire department is funded through property taxes, contracts with other cities for fire protection, and $17 million from the county’s general fund. (The amount of property taxes collected for the fire department varies by city; 22 percent of Yucca Valley property taxes go to the fire department, while it’s only 10 percent from Joshua Tree property taxes, and 3 percent from Wonder Valley property taxes.) That’s not enough though; the county fire department has had to spend $12 million from its reserve fund for the past several years to meet expenses. County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said last night that if the proposed expansion is not approved by property owners, services will be cut, although specific cuts were not mentioned at this time.
But if the expansion into Fire Protection District 5 is approved, Hartwig said it is his priority—and that of County Supervisor James Ramos—to have two new fire stations built in Yucca Valley, which would include relocating Station 42 from the Mesa to the center of Yucca Valley. The fire department would still request the $17 million from the county even after the expansion, but instead of using it for expenses, the fire department would go toward the cost of Yucca Valley’s new fire stations.
The expansion plan is structured so that it will automatically go into effect unless 25 percent of affected property owners throughout the county submit a protest form. If they do, the proposal will go on the ballot as a voter initiative. If 50 percent submit the forms, the measure will be killed altogether. Protest forms will be mailed to eligible property owners September 14 and must be submitted by October 16.
http://www.sbcfire.org/ServiceZoneFP-5.aspx
