Our Issue: SRA Fees
What’s the deal?
The state budget office has been performing a lot of contortions trying the cut the state budget without actually cutting the budget. Their preferred methodology is to cut funding for state programs from the general fund, then try to backfill the money with fees. This amounts to using “fees” to replace taxes.
SRA means State Responsibility Area, which the territory for which CalFIRE is theoretically providing primary fire protection. Unfortunately, about 78% of the declared SRA area is actually covered by local fire districts and many areas that are served by CalFIRE are only served during “fire season” and others are 1/2 hour or more from a CalFIRE station.
The original legislation, ABX1 29 (http://www.legislature.ca.gov/cgi-bin/port-postquery?bill_number=abx1_29&sess=CUR&house=B&author=blumenfield), required the Board of Forestry “on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. The board would be required to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods.”
This has become one of the hottest balls in Sacramento. The Budget Office rammed this through at the last minute and the Board of Forestry was then tasked with determining the fee structure. This is when CCFA got involved, sending this letter to the Governor and the Board of Forestry.
The Board listened to CalFIRE and to the remarks of the people that were served by local fire districts and put together a fee structure that did not meet the Budget Offices expectations. (http://www.bof.fire.ca.gov/regulations/proposed_rule_packages/sra_fire_prevention_benefit_fee_2011/srafeeemergencyruleadopted082211.pdf).
The Budget Office started two new bills, one for each house of the legislature to “fix” this. These bills are ABX1 24 (http://www.legislature.ca.gov/cgi-bin/port-postquery?bill_number=abx1_24&sess=CUR&house=B&author=blumenfield) and SBX1 7 (http://www.legislature.ca.gov/cgi-bin/port-postquery?bill_number=sbx1_7&sess=CUR&house=B&author=committee_on_budget_and_fiscal_review). This new legislation threw out the Board of Forestry’s fee structures and imposed a fee structure that is considerably more onerous to rural landowners, to wit:
“The bill would revise and recast these SRA fee provisions instead
to, among other things, require the board to adopt emergency
regulations to establish and administer fire protection fees in
specified amounts, but not in an amount that would exceed the
reasonable costs of providing fire protection services. The bill
would require a fee of $1 per acre owned for the first 100 contiguous
acres, and lesser amounts per acre for land over 100 contiguous
acres, but a total amount not to exceed $3,000 for 10,000 or more
acres owned. In addition, the bill would require a fee of not less
than $175 for one building or structure on land in an SRA and $25 for
each subsequent building or structure, with a $25 credit for those
property owners who are located in an established fire protection
district. ”
This legislative change pushes the maximum fee one could face from $150/year to a minimum fee of $175/ building and $1/acre up to 100 acres. There is a mere $25 discount for being served by another fire district, and once again, no provision for supporting those other fire districts.
These bills have been facing heavy opposition from the rural counties and are currently stalled.
There may yet be a special session of the legislature to pick this issue up again.
Why do I care?
Most of us own property in territory considered by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to be in the SRA. Most of us are primarily served by local fire districts; these districts will not be seeing any of this money. A lot of people who are going to be charged these fees are going to start wondering why they need to pay two agencies for fire protection, which may put the local districts into even more financial jeopardy.
The mutual aid system in California is dependent on having both sources of fire protection healthy. CalFIRE needs the local districts as much as the local districts need Cal FIRE. The state needs to resolve the fire protection funding problem in a way that is equitable to all fire protection agencies.
This is not the first time the state has wrestled with this issue; it first came up 100 years ago. In the past, after much wrangling, the state has always returned to funding fire protection from the General Fund.
Where do I find more?
The original legislation:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/abx1_29_bill_20110614_amended_sen_v98.html
The Board of Forestry’s enacted fee:
http://www.bof.fire.ca.gov/regulations/proposed_rule_packages/sra_fire_prevention_benefit_fee_2011/srafeeemergencyruleadopted082211.pdf
The new legislation:
ABX1 24 (http://www.legislature.ca.gov/cgi-bin/port-postquery?bill_number=abx1_24&sess=CUR&house=B&author=blumenfield)
SBX1 7 (http://www.legislature.ca.gov/cgi-bin/port-postquery?bill_number=sbx1_7&sess=CUR&house=B&author=committee_on_budget_and_fiscal_review).
What can I do?
Find out who is responsible for your property’s fire protection, CalFIRE or a local fire district. Contact your local fire district, if you have one, and help them get what they need. Write your legislators and the governor expressing your concerns. Get on CCFA’s email list for late breaking news when this opens up again.
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