4d) Discussion and Possible Action Including Adoption of Resolution of Intent to Spend New Tax Revenues on Fire Protection and Emergency Services
(Sponsor: County Counsel)
The Coast Democratic Club of Mendocino County voted unanimously on July 7, 2022 to support the imposition of a County Essential Services and Use Tax for the purpose stated in Agenda Item 4d) - Fire Protection and Emergency Services
First of all I will admit I am confused about the difference between item 4C & 4d so I will post this comment twice. This seems like a good time to share with the full Board a letter I recently sent to the Brooktrails Township BOD & to Supervisor Hashchak. I appreciate & agree with the Tony Orth comments on these items. I am in support of a tax for more fire services. Thank you.
May 24, 2022
TO:
Brooktrails Township Board of Directors
John Hashchak - 3rd District Supervisor
Sherwood Firewise
Mendocino Firesafe Council
Chief Noyer - Brooktrails Township Fire Department
CAL-FIRE
To whom it may concern:
My belief is this should greatly concern all of us!
On April 5 I wrote this message on the Brooktrails Community page on Facebook, I also sent it to Sherwood Firewise & Mendocino Fire Safe Council:
"My home is toward the top of Bear Dr in Brooktrails. We have done a ton of work hardening our home & creating defensible space. But my neighbors directly to either side do not live onsite, no dwellings & have done zero abatement. As I leave my house headed toward town there are too many trees down to count... & have been that way since that crazy snowstorm in 2021. it seems so dangerous for the entire Brooktrails community since we are at the top of the mountain If vacant properties & greenbelt aren't getting cleaned up, who is responsible? These trees can be seen from the street. As we move toward another fire season, I am getting more fearful of what could happen. Looking for some help, please. Just sent this message to Sherwood Firewise, too. Thanks!"
There were 39 comments. I know am not alone in my fear of fire danger & when I look around at my neighborhood we are a disaster waiting to happen.
I received a response from Mendocino Fire Safe Council: “Having neighbors who don't manage their defensible space can definitely be a scary and frustrating situation. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do to compel them to clean their property, but if they are low income and either a senior or disabled they may qualify for our free clearing assistance program and you can put us in touch directly with them. If not, I would try to talk to them directly about your concerns and see if there's anything you can do to motivate or help them take action. If that is a dead end, state law does require homeowners to maintain defensible space, so you can report them to CalFire.”
I have since communicated with Brooktrails Township office who sent me the names & addresses of the owners of the (THIRTY) 30 vacant lots surrounding my house to both sides & across the street all way to the end of the road. But what can I do? It is also Greenbelt behind all our homes & not maintained at all. There are hundreds of trees down on all sides. The PGE work, then the snow has wreaked havoc up here & there has been zero clean-up, by non-resident parcel owners or utility companies or municipalities.
Referred by Brooktrails Township I called & informed Brian Vitorello at CALFIRE, so they are aware of the danger, but apparently cannot enforce or organize the clean-up. He also mentioned he had not been getting many complaints about this area.It’s true there are not many houses up here, there are only 5 houses surrounded by what was described above.
I then participated in the April Sherwood Firewise meeting & emailed with their volunteers. That's where I learned about the recent passage of the Mendocino County Nuisance Abatement ordinance. Firewise folks told me in an email, "The common practice of "abatement", where a public agency can perform work on non-compliant properties (after giving proper notices) and add the costs as a lien on the property, was tried in the past and failed due to the large volume of vacant lot owners that aren't paying any property taxes and the County has not been able to sell the lots at auction."
Which as they described, sounds great theoretically, but also as they described, not working in reality. Who is obligated to enforce the new ordinance? It's my understanding that if the owner signs an approval for mitigation, then volunteers, like Sherwood Firewise, can come do the abatement, often at no charge, mostly through grant funding. Do we really need a signature from a deadbeat property owners? Are volunteers enough when there is so much at risk? Quite frankly, the urgency is increasing exponentially every day.
And most recently I called & spoke with Chief Noyer of Brooktrails Fire Department. He was already fully aware of the situation & agreed with my assessment. We spoke about PGE & then the heavy winds & snows leaving behind such a path of destruction. He said he would resend fire abatement letters to the vacant properties in my area. He & I wondered what other ways can the mess be cleaned up?
I am considering sending the surrounding property owners a postcard with photos of how bad it is & letting them know who I would blame if something horrible happens to try to motivate them. I am considering putting them on blast on social media. I am considering writing a petition & getting the community much more involved in this conversation. I do not know if any of these strategies will work on these issues.
Brooktrails is the largest neighborhood in Mendocino County, it's also in the most precarious position when it come to fire danger. I know the major roads, like Hwy101 & Sherwood Road have a lot of tree work going on. We are not on a main road. There is not dense a population up here. But the winds are fierce atop this mountain & if these matchsticks catch fire, I have grave concern for the entire community. I hope that the Township & the County & the State will all get more involved on our most local roads & even seek Federal funds for clean up. Fire season is already upon us, this is a problem that will only get worse. These dead & down trees are an extremely dangerous fire hazard that very well may impact everyone in Brooktrails in the worst of ways.
Thank you for your attention & assistance toward an action plan on this critical matter.
Thank you for your efforts to find consensus among the BOS with regard to the upcoming sales tax measure that would provide increased funding to Mendocino County Fire Districts. The revised proposal that would provide the majority of funding to Fire Districts through continuation of a 2/8th cent sales tax while enabling the library to still pursue some additional funding is brilliant — and with the package including a sunset in 10 years, some funding for the Fire Safe Council and the concentration of the funding to benefit fire services as opposed to the controversial water district addition- these changes make this revised proposal, in my opinion, a winner.
As you know, our Fire District is financially struggling. Although we are blessed with a very supportive community base, our revenues have not risen significantly in 22 years. Costs continue to rise in all line items. The last five years of operations have seen us use up most all of our reserves just to maintain current levels of service. Our annual budgets since 2017 have been $200,000 to $300,000 higher than our secured income, the difference being made up with State funding by our sending strike teams out to assist other locations during fire season.
While this has enabled us as a District to "balance" our budget, it is not a sustainable approach.
Our Board has recognized this problem and has been working towards increasing our property tax assessment this year. It was to have gone before the voters in November. But as supportive as our community has been there doesn't seem to be much appetite these days for increasing property taxes, even for things like fire protection that we can pretty much all agree upon. So, it is with huge relief that we received your presentation a couple of weeks ago that described a countywide sales tax approach that might fill our current funding gap.
We have a significant amount of documentation with regard to our current state of finance. We have done our own projections and have also secured the assistance of third-party finance specialists to make 5- and 10-year projections. The portion that RVCFD would receive under the current distribution plan is almost exactly what we project our basic funding needs to be to get us through the next five years. It's likely we will have to visit the concept of an assessment increase eventually. But this proposal would really make a big difference for now.
RVCFD is in full support of this proposal as recently modified.
Much appreciated,
Linda Talso
Board Chair
Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire District
Hello Supervisors, Thank you for providing this Resolution explaining the proposed uses for the General 1/4 Sales Tax to be placed before the voters this November. For ongoing transparency your staff can use the contracts with the recipients of this sales tax revenue annually, to starting in the second year of distribution, provide their adopted budgets with a line item showing the uses/benefits these allocations will/have supported. This would meet the reporting stated in this resolution that is required prior to the adoption of the following years BOS budget program. As a commissioner on the Mendocino County Local Agency Formation Commission, and as a representative for Special Districts including those providing essential emergency services, I am asking you to vote in the affirmative so might the voters of Mendocino County have the option to demonstrate their level of support to maintain these critical first responder agencies. Thank you for this resolution demonstrating your support to place on this Novembers Ballot, Tony Orth.
The Coast Democratic Club of Mendocino County voted unanimously on July 7, 2022 to support the imposition of a County Essential Services and Use Tax for the purpose stated in Agenda Item 4d) - Fire Protection and Emergency Services
Dear Supervisors,
First of all I will admit I am confused about the difference between item 4C & 4d so I will post this comment twice. This seems like a good time to share with the full Board a letter I recently sent to the Brooktrails Township BOD & to Supervisor Hashchak. I appreciate & agree with the Tony Orth comments on these items. I am in support of a tax for more fire services. Thank you.
May 24, 2022
TO:
Brooktrails Township Board of Directors
John Hashchak - 3rd District Supervisor
Sherwood Firewise
Mendocino Firesafe Council
Chief Noyer - Brooktrails Township Fire Department
CAL-FIRE
To whom it may concern:
My belief is this should greatly concern all of us!
On April 5 I wrote this message on the Brooktrails Community page on Facebook, I also sent it to Sherwood Firewise & Mendocino Fire Safe Council:
"My home is toward the top of Bear Dr in Brooktrails. We have done a ton of work hardening our home & creating defensible space. But my neighbors directly to either side do not live onsite, no dwellings & have done zero abatement. As I leave my house headed toward town there are too many trees down to count... & have been that way since that crazy snowstorm in 2021. it seems so dangerous for the entire Brooktrails community since we are at the top of the mountain If vacant properties & greenbelt aren't getting cleaned up, who is responsible? These trees can be seen from the street. As we move toward another fire season, I am getting more fearful of what could happen. Looking for some help, please. Just sent this message to Sherwood Firewise, too. Thanks!"
There were 39 comments. I know am not alone in my fear of fire danger & when I look around at my neighborhood we are a disaster waiting to happen.
I received a response from Mendocino Fire Safe Council: “Having neighbors who don't manage their defensible space can definitely be a scary and frustrating situation. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do to compel them to clean their property, but if they are low income and either a senior or disabled they may qualify for our free clearing assistance program and you can put us in touch directly with them. If not, I would try to talk to them directly about your concerns and see if there's anything you can do to motivate or help them take action. If that is a dead end, state law does require homeowners to maintain defensible space, so you can report them to CalFire.”
I have since communicated with Brooktrails Township office who sent me the names & addresses of the owners of the (THIRTY) 30 vacant lots surrounding my house to both sides & across the street all way to the end of the road. But what can I do? It is also Greenbelt behind all our homes & not maintained at all. There are hundreds of trees down on all sides. The PGE work, then the snow has wreaked havoc up here & there has been zero clean-up, by non-resident parcel owners or utility companies or municipalities.
Referred by Brooktrails Township I called & informed Brian Vitorello at CALFIRE, so they are aware of the danger, but apparently cannot enforce or organize the clean-up. He also mentioned he had not been getting many complaints about this area.It’s true there are not many houses up here, there are only 5 houses surrounded by what was described above.
I then participated in the April Sherwood Firewise meeting & emailed with their volunteers. That's where I learned about the recent passage of the Mendocino County Nuisance Abatement ordinance. Firewise folks told me in an email, "The common practice of "abatement", where a public agency can perform work on non-compliant properties (after giving proper notices) and add the costs as a lien on the property, was tried in the past and failed due to the large volume of vacant lot owners that aren't paying any property taxes and the County has not been able to sell the lots at auction."
Which as they described, sounds great theoretically, but also as they described, not working in reality. Who is obligated to enforce the new ordinance? It's my understanding that if the owner signs an approval for mitigation, then volunteers, like Sherwood Firewise, can come do the abatement, often at no charge, mostly through grant funding. Do we really need a signature from a deadbeat property owners? Are volunteers enough when there is so much at risk? Quite frankly, the urgency is increasing exponentially every day.
And most recently I called & spoke with Chief Noyer of Brooktrails Fire Department. He was already fully aware of the situation & agreed with my assessment. We spoke about PGE & then the heavy winds & snows leaving behind such a path of destruction. He said he would resend fire abatement letters to the vacant properties in my area. He & I wondered what other ways can the mess be cleaned up?
I am considering sending the surrounding property owners a postcard with photos of how bad it is & letting them know who I would blame if something horrible happens to try to motivate them. I am considering putting them on blast on social media. I am considering writing a petition & getting the community much more involved in this conversation. I do not know if any of these strategies will work on these issues.
Brooktrails is the largest neighborhood in Mendocino County, it's also in the most precarious position when it come to fire danger. I know the major roads, like Hwy101 & Sherwood Road have a lot of tree work going on. We are not on a main road. There is not dense a population up here. But the winds are fierce atop this mountain & if these matchsticks catch fire, I have grave concern for the entire community. I hope that the Township & the County & the State will all get more involved on our most local roads & even seek Federal funds for clean up. Fire season is already upon us, this is a problem that will only get worse. These dead & down trees are an extremely dangerous fire hazard that very well may impact everyone in Brooktrails in the worst of ways.
Thank you for your attention & assistance toward an action plan on this critical matter.
Sincerely, Laura Clein, resident homeowner
Thank you for your efforts to find consensus among the BOS with regard to the upcoming sales tax measure that would provide increased funding to Mendocino County Fire Districts. The revised proposal that would provide the majority of funding to Fire Districts through continuation of a 2/8th cent sales tax while enabling the library to still pursue some additional funding is brilliant — and with the package including a sunset in 10 years, some funding for the Fire Safe Council and the concentration of the funding to benefit fire services as opposed to the controversial water district addition- these changes make this revised proposal, in my opinion, a winner.
As you know, our Fire District is financially struggling. Although we are blessed with a very supportive community base, our revenues have not risen significantly in 22 years. Costs continue to rise in all line items. The last five years of operations have seen us use up most all of our reserves just to maintain current levels of service. Our annual budgets since 2017 have been $200,000 to $300,000 higher than our secured income, the difference being made up with State funding by our sending strike teams out to assist other locations during fire season.
While this has enabled us as a District to "balance" our budget, it is not a sustainable approach.
Our Board has recognized this problem and has been working towards increasing our property tax assessment this year. It was to have gone before the voters in November. But as supportive as our community has been there doesn't seem to be much appetite these days for increasing property taxes, even for things like fire protection that we can pretty much all agree upon. So, it is with huge relief that we received your presentation a couple of weeks ago that described a countywide sales tax approach that might fill our current funding gap.
We have a significant amount of documentation with regard to our current state of finance. We have done our own projections and have also secured the assistance of third-party finance specialists to make 5- and 10-year projections. The portion that RVCFD would receive under the current distribution plan is almost exactly what we project our basic funding needs to be to get us through the next five years. It's likely we will have to visit the concept of an assessment increase eventually. But this proposal would really make a big difference for now.
RVCFD is in full support of this proposal as recently modified.
Much appreciated,
Linda Talso
Board Chair
Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire District
Hello Supervisors, Thank you for providing this Resolution explaining the proposed uses for the General 1/4 Sales Tax to be placed before the voters this November. For ongoing transparency your staff can use the contracts with the recipients of this sales tax revenue annually, to starting in the second year of distribution, provide their adopted budgets with a line item showing the uses/benefits these allocations will/have supported. This would meet the reporting stated in this resolution that is required prior to the adoption of the following years BOS budget program. As a commissioner on the Mendocino County Local Agency Formation Commission, and as a representative for Special Districts including those providing essential emergency services, I am asking you to vote in the affirmative so might the voters of Mendocino County have the option to demonstrate their level of support to maintain these critical first responder agencies. Thank you for this resolution demonstrating your support to place on this Novembers Ballot, Tony Orth.