LAKEPORT — Two weeks before ballots will be mailed for a proposed tax increase to support the Lakeport Fire Department, firefighters are stepping up their campaign while some residents are concerned about the measure.
For the fire department, the measure’s success is critical. Following layoffs of six firefighters in October 2018 as fallout from a roughly $1 million budget deficit, the LFD has been staffed with half the personnel as before, or two per shift. Emergency response times have been delayed by the lack of staff, and firefighters union representative Matthew Finnegan has called the current staffing levels a “downward spiral” for the department.
The tax increase, called Measure M, would raise existing fire tax rates in the Lakeport Fire Protection District to $6.14 per benefit unit, raising the expense for the owner of a singe family home, a mobile home or a duplex to $184.20, up from about $60. This is expected to add $1.2 million to the fire department’s budget in the first year if approved. The measure will require a two-thirds supermajority vote to pass.
In February, LFD Director Bill Gabe gained approval from the Lake County Board of Supervisors to put the measure out in an upcoming May 7 election. He referred then to the tax increase as one “that we desperately need to make up for lost revenues,” noting that it would allow staffing levels to be restored “so that we don’t have to play russian roulette with the medical calls.”
If Measure M passes, the fire district expects to be able to hire back all the firefighters it laid off last year and to be able to perform equipment maintenance and upgrades as well as rebuild its reserve funds. Within five years after passage, the additional tax funds from Measure M are expected, as an expenditure plan from the district details, to allow for two fire engines to be replaced with over $200,000 left in reserves afterward. The expenditure plan accounts for a two percent annual tax rate increase. A maximum annual 3 percent increase is allowed for in the text of the measure.
While discussion among Lakeport Fire Protection District residents at governing board meetings and online has been largely supportive of voting for the tax to restore firefighter staffing levels, doubts have been raised about the measure’s use of a “units of benefit” system of taxation.
That system, which is already in use in the current LFPD fire tax as well as in the fire taxes for the South Lake County Fire Protection District and the Lake County Fire Protection District, utilizes a formula that categorizes properties by characteristics like size and type of use to arrive at an annual tax rate for a given property. These tax rates are multiples of the assigned value of a “unit of benefit,” which in this case is proposed at $6.14. A unit of benefit takes into account the need for fire district resources (like firefighters, equipment and water) posed by different properties in the event of a fire.
Wine Country Land and Ranches owner and real estate broker Bobby Dutcher argues that the units of benefit system is unfair to commercial properties, which are attributed more units of benefit than residential and undeveloped properties, and therefore must pay more in taxes.
“The increased fire tax will have a negative effect on commercial values,” Dutcher said Monday. “The formula they are using will force the owners of the buildings to increase rents, which might result in increased vacancies.”
Country Air Commercial owner and real estate agent Jim Magliulo said he expects the tax increase, if approved, to affect property sales. “Increase in taxes always affects property sales. How much is the question.”
Dutcher, who owns a commercial property in the district, suggested that rather than a units of benefit system, “a value based system makes much more sense”—such a system would assess the monetary value of a property to arrive at a tax rate—arguing that “those who can afford it the most should pay the most.” Dutcher noted, however, that it is already too late to develop a different system for the current tax measure.
“I will be one of those paying more than their fair share,” he said, “but I will vote in favor of (the measure) and I support it. This is a serious public safety issue.”
Lakeport Fire Interim Chief Rick Bergem, a 35-year firefighter with the district, noted Tuesday that the units of benefit system has been used locally since 1997, and argued that taxing commercial properties more heavily is appropriate because they demand a higher level of service.
“Commercial properties receive more service” in the event of a fire, Bergem argued, because they often have more occupants than a residential building and tend to be larger in size.
Under the proposed $6.14 per-benefit-unit tax rate, the highest potential annual cost for a residential property would be levied on multi-family or apartment buildings, with 15 benefit units attributed to each living unit (a cost of $92.10 per year for each apartment).
Properties with commercial buildings under 1,000 square feet will pay $307 annually, with costs climbing based on square footage to a maximum of $921 annually for a 10,000 or more square foot commercial building. For buildings with more than one business operating under the same roof, an additional 75 units, or $460.50, will be charged per additional business.
Ballots for the measure will be mailed out during the week of April 8. Firefighters with LFD have said they plan on going door-to-door in the three weeks surrounding that date to advocate for the tax before the election on May 7.
