Sonoma County supervisors plan to ask voters for half-cent sales tax increase for fire services

Amid a historic run of catastrophic wildfires and floods, Sonoma County leaders are getting creative, planning to ask voters next year for a sales tax increase to pay for critical public safety efforts that could better prepare the county the next time disaster strikes.

The county sales tax earmarked for fire agencies would be the first of its kind in Sonoma County, and officials, including Sheriff Mark Essick and Emergency Management Director Chris Godley, called it crucial to advance the county’s disaster preparedness.

Sonoma County supervisors on Tuesday gave their initial approval of a ballot measure for March 2020 seeking a half-cent sales tax increase to generate $51 ?million per year, which the county’s nearly 30 fire districts would split for fire prevention, firefighting and emergency warning initiatives. The money would be divided based on district size and need.

Tuesday’s vote is the culmination of years of work, predating the Kincade fire, which should be fully contained Thursday, and even the October 2017 North Bay fires that killed 24 and destroyed 5,300 homes countywide.

But the coincidental timing - seeking more money in the wake of what has largely been described as an unparalleled success in fighting the Kincade fire - wasn’t lost on those attending the supervisors meeting. Supervisor Lynda Hopkins called the timing strange, but also crucial.

“I think what just happened to our county shows that this isn’t a one-off,” Hopkins said. “We are in an era of catastrophic wildfires, and we need to plan accordingly.”

The county, too, has experienced major floods in February and early 2017, and the ever-present threat of a major earthquake looms in the background of all public safety discussions in Northern California. Officials said the investment would make fire agencies and the public better able to respond to a multitude of disasters.

The ordinance required some last-minute tweaking before the supervisors voted. They will have to confirm their vote at next week’s meeting.

Assuming all of that goes according to plan, officials still must get support from more than two-thirds of county voters to approve the sales tax increase, and polling released two weeks ago shows that threshold of support may be difficult to secure. The county’s combined sales tax rate now is 8.25%.

“I’m not here to say you will win,” Ruth Bernstein, president of polling company EMC, said during a presentation of those results two weeks ago. “We think this is going to be challenging.”

Voters on Tuesday had final say on parcel tax increases for three west county fire districts, and another sales tax increase that would put some Sonoma County cities’ sales tax rates higher than the state-allowed 9.25% limit - a limit from which county leaders already have secured an exemption.

Now, voters will be asked to approve a sprawling ballot measure that benefits more than two dozen fire districts with a variety of capital, structural and operational needs, all while providing cash incentives for consolidation among some of the smaller, more rural fire districts.

Tim Aboudara, president of the Santa Rosa Fire Fighters Union and the firefighters’ representative on the working group established in March to study a ballot measure, said the measure would raise the level of service for all districts.

All agencies depend on each other, and “we are only as strong as our most fragile link,” Aboudara said. “It’s about making our fire service better.”

Some of the money generated would go toward building nine fire stations, upgrading eight others and moving an additional eight stations.

Other money would go toward hiring 200-plus, full-time personnel, including firefighters and battalion chiefs.

When asked what would have been different if this funding was in place before the Kincade fire, during which firefighters heroically prevented any Windsor homes from burning, Windsor Fire Chief Mark Heine said it’s not about that.

“I think the main difference is more local firefighters on the front lines of the fire impacting our home communities,” Heine said.

It also means, Heine said, more staff already on duty so that agencies don’t have to institute a surge in staffing ahead of threatening fires.

Money from the increased sales tax also would go toward enhancing emergency alert systems, including warnings and sirens, as well as vegetation management, wildfire prevention and response.

“The Board of Supervisors has put in a significant amount of money into fire service, particularly in the past five years,” Heine said. “The money has been to sustain service levels, not enhance it. We’ve all recognized it’s not enough.”

You can reach Staff Writer Tyler Silvy at 707-526-8667 or at tyler.silvy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@tylersilvy.