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1/25/2012 – Santa Cruz Sentinel
SANTA CRUZ – A new fire prevention fee affecting homeowners in some unincorporated areas of the state was approved this week by the state Office of Administrative Law.
The annual fee of up to $150 was approved by Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators last summer, for homes in “state responsibility areas” served by Cal Fire, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
Those areas commonly abut wildlands and contain some type of valuable natural resource, such as timberland, Berlant said.
Most affected homeowners will be assessed $115, due to a $35 exemption for homes in both the state responsibility area and a local fire district, Berlant said.
The fee, which is expected to generate $84 million, will replace $55 million Cal Fire now gets from the state’s general fund, with the balance going to administration and grants to local fire prevention groups, Berlant said.
It will provide steady funding for the brush clearing and other prevention work the agency already performs, he said.
The statute passed by the Legislature directed the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish the fee; those regulations were adopted earlier this month. The board is now drafting permanent regulations, Berlant said, a process that will include soliciting public comment.
They might get an earful.
Some homeowners have called the fee an illegal tax and complained they already pay fees to local fire districts.
Some local fire officials, including Scotts Valley Fire Protection District Chief Mike McMurry, said the fee will make it hard for them to pass any needed district tax measure to improve fire service.
Russ Mackey of Bonny Doon, who is active in a drive to create a fire district in that community, echoed those concerns.
“The big question is who is responsible for the SRA and how do you say who’s going to pay that money?” he said. “We live here in Santa Cruz County, but we’re all paying off bonds for the Central Valley Water Project. Should it just be people who use the water?”
Homeowners in state responsibility areas “receive a disproportionately larger benefit from fire prevention activities,” according to the state board’s emergency regulations, so they should pay more for fire prevention.
Mackey, who also is a member of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, predicts the group will challenge the fee in court, an idea that didn’t surprise Cal Fire.
“Numerous organizations have said that,” Berlant said. “Our job is to implement the law. If something changes, we follow suit.”
But for now, Cal Fire and the Board of Equalization are working on implementation, Berlant said. He estimates bills will go out in early summer. The regulations include a process to contest the fee within 30 days of receiving a bill.