As someone who just lobbied—hard--for the passage of Prop 30 to save California public education from
imploding, I feel ambivalent about the new fire fee.
Do we want less firefighting
capabilities? Of course not. Should a select group of property owners
be targeted? That's a good question.
Most challengers use the “this is an
illegal tax” argument: Because the fee can be interpreted to be a
tax, and because it wasn't passed by a two-thirds vote in the
Legislature, it is therefore unconstitutional. Additionally, they
point out, many rural residents already pay fire taxes, so the fee is
a tax on top of a tax.
If you're an anti-tax type, these
arguments are pretty compelling. I'm not though: I think paying taxes
is the patriotic thing to do; it's what holds us together as a
society; it's where we look beyond our immediate interests to the
greater good.
But here's the thing: I think this fee
is taking a very different position. In effect, it is saying that if
you live in the backcountry, where many wildfires start, you've got
to pay the bill. And that's just plain wrong.
As the Cedar and Harris Fires showed
us, what starts in the backcountry doesn't necessarily stay in the
backcountry. (Remember the directives to evacuate Del Mar?) And what
used to be country is now town—the back keeps getting pushed back.
If anything, rural residents provide a
huge service to our suburban neighbors: we are quick to spot and
report fires that would otherwise smolder and make their way to more
populated areas. As a result, fire towers are now quaint artifacts.
Why pay a fire watcher when you have hundreds of residents on high
alert during the fire season? And the fire that gets doused in, say, Dulzura, is the fire that didn't destroy your home in Eastlake.
Wildfire in California is a statewide
issue, not one limited to a select population. As with education, if
a statewide solution is necessary, all Californians should step up.
I'm not sure the below resources agree
with my sentiments, but if you're interested in fighting the fee,
here are some places to start:
Supervisor
Dianne Jacob’s letter to constituents
http://www.diannejacob.com/resources/state-fire-tax-website.pdf
How
to appeal http://www.calfirefee.com/appeal/
Howard
Jarvis http://firetaxprotest.org/
Cal
Fire Petition Form
http://firetaxprotest.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Petition_for_Redetermination_Fillable.pdf
I found it ironic that the state sent out expensive notices to all back country people warning them that a fee was coming. I just saw $$$. Then I got my bill from some weird office called "Department of Equalization." What is that? How is that "equal" anything? I see the fee I'm asked to pay AS a tax. It's an additional property tax. I am interested if I can deduct it -- as other taxes.
ReplyDeleteYou're right; the Cedar Fire blasted through Scripps Ranch, skirted Del Cerro and hit El Cajon and Mira Mesa WAY before it blasted its way up here and that a fire whose name I can't remember went all the way to Encinitas which as I recall is a beach town.
And then, too, the Cedar Fire wasn't started by someone who lives out here (most of us know better than to start fires) but by some idiot who had no clue what he was doing and shouldn't have been allowed out of his back yard.
Having "back country" people pay a "special" fee is like having golfers pay fees because they might be hit by lightning on a golf course... It feels as if we are being "blamed" for something we had no part in. It's like elementary school; if Johnny comes in late for recess then everyone stays after school as punishment.
A couple years ago when a house caught fire (broken water heater which can happen even in cities) I watched my neighbors jump a fence, run across a pasture, carrying shovels and put out spark lit fires that threatened an empty storage barn and a house. We are our own first responders out here. We keep our weeds cut, our firewood away from our buildings, fire-resistent plants planted. We know a lot about keeping ourselves and our property safe. I think we're the last people who should be charged a fee.