Claim: Cal Fire loves the Amador contract they have with the County. They would never let that die.

Answer: Nothing could be further from the truth. Cal Fire in Santa Cruz County gains nothing from the Amador plan. If the plan went away tomorrow it would make life much easier for Cal Fire. At the administrative level it increases their workload and competes with their state responsibilities. Having said that, two things should be kept in mind, they do a very professional and conscientious job of providing this service and while the local organization doesn’t really benefit, many individuals do (primarily Seasonal Firefighters) in the form of the jobs paid for by the Amador plan. There is an admin fee that is paid by the county for Amador services. That fee goes directly to Sacramento and is not used to pay for all the administrative employees and benefits the county receives at no additional cost.
Keep in mind too, that it is not Cal Fire’s decision on whether to renew the contract. The County makes the request and Cal Fire responds. If the county were not to request a new contract Cal Fire would not pursue it.

Claim: The County is the legal owner of almost all volunteer stations and equipment. They would never eliminate CSA# 48, County Fire. There is too much established infrastructure.

Answer: Let me make sure I understand this correctly. The County has no responsibility for fire service, is broke and is sitting on a potful of real estate and equipment that it owns and could sell. Hmm, it seems to me, from a financial perspective that that might be a really good argument to the County for getting rid of County Fire. The County would love to get rid of County Fire and has previously attempted to do so.

Claim: Also, the County would never eliminate an ongoing tax stream, such as that for CSA# 48, especially one as popular as fire fighting.

Answer: It should be pointed out that it is not the County’s tax stream. The CSA# 48 parcel tax does not go into the general fund, it cannot be used for anything other than County Fire. While the County garners some fees from the contract and an OES position, the contract could not be halved for instance, with the balance of funds going into county coffers for other projects.

Claim: The County always points out that they have the right to eliminate rural fire protection services, just before they ask for a fire tax increase. Let us not go around saying the sky is falling, especially when it is not even likely.

Answer: Actually, the County always points this out when folks ask them to pay for County Fire (CSA# 48) out of the general fund. Is the sky falling? No. But County Fire is truly at risk. Even if Supervisors do not choose option 1, there is still a huge differential between the prudent spending going on and the amount of revenues coming in. That is not going to change even if they choose options 2-4. The system is in peril and our current Fire and EMS model ( a very good one) is on a collision course.

This will lower our property values, increase or eliminate our fire insurance and put our families at risk….governments are out of money and the bond for CSA48 funding was not approved in the past…
For more information and to pass the word along, contact WALT BROWN waltinusa@yahoo.com — HELP US SAVE THE FIRE STATIONS….

The County is the legal owner of almost all volunteer stations and equipment. They would never eliminate CSA# 48, County Fire. There is too much established infrastructure.

Also, the County would never eliminate an ongoing tax stream, such as that for CSA #48, especially one as popular as fire fighting.

The County always points out that they have the right to eliminate rural fire protection services, just before they ask for a fire tax increase. Let us not go around saying the sky is falling, especially when it is not even likely.