The final fate of the infamous FP-5 special fire fee will be on the ballot in the presidential election this November 3. That was the decision of county supervisors at yesterday’s meeting in San Bernardino. The $157 per parcel fire fee repeal initiative was forced by a voter petition; supervisors had only to decide when the unpopular fee would go to voters. Since its inception following a dubious “protest vote” in 2018, the problematic fee has been both a source of outrage for property owners in the 19,000-square-mile Fire Protection District Five, and a lifeline for County Fire administrators seeking to close an annual budget shortfall in the tens of millions of dollars. The likely repeal of the fire fee come November again opens up the issue of how to pay for fire protection across a huge portion of our county.
