Blog note: this article references a grand jury report.
Marin County supervisors voiced their support Tuesday for a wildfire prevention initiative that would create a new property tax to raise $20 million annually and a new joint powers authority to oversee the effort.
The initiative is the brainchild of a coalition that includes all of Marin County’s fire agencies and municipal governments. The coalition is seeking to put the parcel tax measure, envisioned to be about 11 cents per square foot, on the March 2020 ballot.
“I think the March election is essential,” said Supervisor Dennis Rodoni. “We can’t wait another fire season or two for the funds.”
Supervisor Damon Connolly said, “Given what is at stake, I’m very comfortable going forward in March.”
Supervisors Judy Arnold, Katie Rice and Kate Sears also said they liked the idea of going to voters sooner rather than later. The supervisors have until November to take official action to place the measure on the March ballot.
Marin County fire Chief Jason Weber told supervisors that preliminary polling indicates enough voter support to pass some variety of parcel tax for wildfire prevention.
“The results certainly indicate that our voters want us to do more,” Weber said, “and there is a willingness to pay a little bit for that.”
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury called for a quarter-cent sales tax to help fund preparedness efforts in its April 25 report on fire preparedness. Weber said the polling indicated support for such a tax is well below the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
Public comment on the initiative during the meeting was overwhelmingly positive.
“I support that we move forward now,” said Jessica Rising of San Anselmo.
John Hansen said, “The JPA and funding can’t come soon enough.”
There were some reservations.
Paul Premo, a member of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, said, “We at COST conclude this is a need; we support the goal.”
But Premo added, “We have a lot of concern about the undisclosed and perhaps not yet fully analyzed expenditures.”
Mimi Willard, COST’s president, attended the meeting but had to leave before the public hearing. In detailed written comments, Willard said COST likes the fact the coalition is thinking of levying a per square foot tax rather than a flat parcel tax, which would require the owners of a small condo and a large mall to pay the same tax.
“This should result in an equitable sharing of the tax among those who benefit from fire protection, which does include multi-family and commercial buildings,” Willard wrote.
Willard questioned the coalition’s assumption that a flat parcel tax and a parcel tax based on square footage would raise equivalent amounts. She wrote that proponents of the tax should identify specific projects that would be paid for with the tax. She also said the tax should be limited in duration.
“We strongly believe the initial term should be six years maximum,” she wrote.
She also questioned whether there is enough time to resolve these issues while still getting the measure on the March 2020 ballot.
In her closing remarks, Rice appeared to be responding to the suggestion that the tax measure should be short-lived.
“You can’t do vegetation management just one year; it has to be sustained year in and year out,” Rice said. “That is why it is so important to have a measure in place that has a lifetime that is long enough.”
As for where the money would go, Weber said 60% of the revenue generated by the tax would be dedicated to core functions such as vegetation management, wildfire detection, evacuation improvements, grants and public education. Twenty percent would be used for annual defensible space evaluations, and another 20% would be used for wildfire prevention efforts designed for specific locales.
In its report, the civil grand jury recommended hiring 30 vegetation management inspectors to hand out citations to private property owners who fail to clear a defensible space around their homes and an expedited legal process to make sure the citations are not ignored.
Weber told supervisors on Tuesday that about 15,000 inspections for defensible space are being done countywide.
“We need to take that to somewhere around 45,000 to 50,000 to be successful,” Weber said.
Supervisor Connolly asked Weber about the economic consequences for Marin residents, particularly seniors, who are required to clear defensible space around their homes.
“How does that look in terms of our residents who may not have the cash on hand to do that?” Connolly asked.
Weber said, “There is a fear level there. There is a misunderstanding that everything has to be taken out. That is not the case. It’s not going to be punitive where people now have to make a choice between buying medicine and cutting juniper.”
Weber said there would be grants and other support to help seniors, low-income people and people with functional needs to maintain defensible space.
As currently envisioned, the joint powers authority would be governed by an 11-member board of directors. There would be two board members representing each of five proposed zones: Ross Valley, San Rafael, West Marin, Novato and Southern Marin. One board member would represent the remaining small districts.
Jean Berensmeier, founder of the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group, said she would like to see a sixth zone created for San Geronimo Valley.
“The valley is contributing dollars to this effort,” Berensmeier said, “and we want a voice as to how our dollars are used.”
August 13, 2019
Marin Independent Journal
By Richard Halstead
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