Earlier this week, a county superior court judge in San Bernardino ruled that a voter initiative ballot measure to repeal the special fire tax cannot appear on the June 7 ballot. For now, at least, it appears that the unpopular Fire Protection Zone FP-5 special tax is here to stay. Reporter Mike Lipsitz is here with more of the story…
With the second installment of property taxes due to the county on April 11 thousands of landowners in the 19,000 square mile FP-5 district are reminded of the $161.98 special tax they’ll have to come up with to keep county fire afloat. And while the district’s firefighters and emergency responders are revered, implementation of the special tax in 2018 has been widely criticized. At the same time, the fee has persevered over a sketchy protest vote when first introduced, several attempted court injunctions, and a handful of lawsuits. Tuesday’s ruling put an end to a lawsuit against the county’s Registrar of Voters and the initiative’s proponents who aimed to bring the special tax up for voter repeal on the June 7, 2022 primary election ballot. In his ruling, Judge David Cohn said the measure violates California Election Code.
The proponents argue their proposed measure satisfies the full text requirement and doesn’t include intentionally false statements.
Tom Murphy, president of the Red Brennan Group, a nonprofit funding the repeal effort, said the lawsuit was “typical of San Bernardino County.”
“Using high-priced legal counsel, paid off with tax-payer funding, the county twists the law and uses it to cudgel their own citizens,” he said in a March 24 statement.
Opponents of the tax, backed by the Red Brennan Group, circulated a petition for a repeal and collected 8,868 voter signatures. In December, the county registrar of voters certified the petition, forcing the county board of supervisors to either repeal the tax or place it before the voters. In January, the board voted to place it before voters.
This misleading information, according to the district, included claims that the expansion of FP-5 was unlawful and unconstitutional.
Murphy said the Red Brennan Group is considering appealing the judge’s decision, but he doesn’t believe they can do it in time to keep Measure Z off the ballots, since the June ballots are being finalized.
“June ballots are sent to the printer on March 31,” Murphy said. “Because of the timing, I do not believe Measure Z will be on the June 2022 ballot.”
