Sonoma County considers half-cent sales tax to improve fire departments

Backed by Sonoma County fire chiefs hoping to increase funding for struggling fire departments, the Board of Supervisors has hired a consulting firm to measure voters’ appetite for a half-cent sales tax to bring in $42 million annually.

If polling shows voters like the idea, then supervisors and all nine city councils in the county would need to endorse the ambitious plan and place it on the ballot, where it would need approval from two-thirds of voters to pass.

Fire officials, expecting favorable polling following a series of deadly wildfires in Northern California over the past two years, want the tax question fast-tracked to the March 2020 ballot. That would put the measure ahead of other local and state tax measures expected on the November 2020 ballot, which could include sales tax requests to improve roads in Sonoma County and fund homeless and behavioral health programs statewide.

But a March ballot listing could put a fire safety tax up against a sales tax request by SMART train officials, who want voters to extend a quarter-cent sales tax for the two-county commuter rail system.

“It’s a very aggressive timeline,” Sonoma County Fire Chief Mark Heine said. “We’re getting ahead of the (election) curve and we really need to make these changes in the fire services as we’re behind the curve.”

The Board of Supervisors last week approved a contract with Muelrath Public Affairs that would cost the county as much as $435,000 if the ballot measure looks promising and marketing efforts are launched. If signs indicate otherwise, that cost would be greatly reduced, according to a county report.

Supervisor James Gore said he was anxious to see the polling but is optimistic the results will prompt the board to place a tax increase on the ballot.

“The public has a lot of faith and confidence in firefighters and what they do. At the same time, they’re experiencing a cacophony of overlapping agencies and fragmentation in Sonoma County,” he said, referring to the three dozen or so fire agencies with varying issues and an ongoing need to increase efficiency.

Supervisors have told fire chiefs they want to see fewer agencies through consolidation in exchange for support and money. A few departments have merged and several other districts are moving that way.

If passed, the sales tax would join a handful of quarter-cent taxes already approved by voters for road improvements, the SMART train and acquiring open space. Also, the county library system and parks receive revenue from an eighth-cent countywide tax and residents in six cities currently pay a half-cent to 1 cent sales tax for issues in those municipalities.

A new firefighting tax would bring the current countywide sales tax level to 8.75% for unincorporated areas, according to county statistics. Santa Rosa, Cotati and Sebastopol shoppers already pay close to the state-allowed limit of 9.25% and officials would need a waiver from the Legislature to allow those cities to exceed the state cap. The tax would put Healdsburg, Rohnert Park and Sonoma at the 9.25% limit.

The requirement to win support from two-thirds of voters has been difficult to achieve. A 2016 attempt at a half-cent sales tax to benefit parks outside city limits reached 65% approval and failed. Two years later, county officials returned the idea to voters, this time asking for a one-eighth cent countywide sales tax. It passed.

Fire officials hope to sell city council members on the ballot measure, which would raise money for city fire departments, including money toward new stations in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.

For years chiefs have begged supervisors for money to fill holes in the county’s firefighting network. They point to the deadly October 2017 firestorm - which killed 24 people and destroyed 5,334 homes in Sonoma County - to illustrate the importance of improving local fire departments and the threat posed by future fires.

That was coupled with already recognized problems with the county’s complicated network of fire departments - city departments, volunteer and paid fire districts and volunteer companies. Some have stayed financially healthy while others barely keep their doors open, lacking money and volunteers.

Talk of a countywide sales tax for fire services has grown to a serious consideration in the past two years as officials hammered out an extensive plan outlining overall firefighting needs that came with a high price tag.

A $42 million sales tax fund would pay for about 175 firefighters, including many paramedics, added to the current force of more than 400 paid firefighters. It also would put staff inside 10 new fire stations, some in rural areas now served by dwindling volunteers, and replace a variety of equipment, including decades-old fire engines.

That plan was offered to supervisors earlier this year and the board approved it, supporting the idea of a sales tax to pay for it. While financial aid from the county has increased in recent years, it doesn’t add up to what fire chiefs say they need, making the sales tax the best option, Gore said.

“It would give the fire community the resources to prepare our communities for what we have been dealing with and what’s to come, to face down another firestorm,” Gore said. “That threat is still there.”

But some financially struggling fire agencies haven’t waited for the chance the tax could get to voters and then pass. Instead they’re going to voters in their districts to raise money through parcel taxes.

Last fall Monte Rio, Schell-Vista and Rancho Adobe fire districts successfully passed such taxes, improving their financial health and allowing the districts to hire firefighters to assure one would always be on duty. Fire officials in the Gold Ridge, Graton and Occidental fire districts currently are considering similar ballot measures for this November.

“We’re looking at a daytime personnel crisis right now. I don’t know if I can wait for it,” volunteer Occidental Fire Chief Ron Lunardi said of a possible countywide sales tax. “And if it fails I have nothing.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.