GILROY—More than 4,400 rural residents in Santa Clara County, nearly half in South County, will open mailboxes in May to find bills for a controversial fire protection fee levied by Cal Fire, the state’s fire fighting arm.
But the fee is under attack by lawmakers who want it repealed and tax watchdogs who say it’s unconstitutional and urge landowners to join their fight.
The fee law was enacted in the summer of 2011 with passage of Assembly Bill X1 29. To help defray state expenses, it made rural property owners liable for fire fighting costs.
Some 700,000 Californians will pay this year, including about 1,900 South County landowners with an inhabited single-family home, mobile home or apartment complex. They will pay $150 for each structure in what’s called an area of state responsibility—land outside the jurisdiction of a local fire department. Detached garages, barns and commercial and industrial buildings are exempt.
In Gilroy, 907 landowners are involved and in Morgan Hill 1,008, according to State Board of Equalization spokesperson Venus Stromberg.
Bills will go out in mid-to-late May. Property owners have 30 days to pay or face stiff penalties that accrue at 20 percent every 30-day period the balance is not paid.
The fees can be appealed if a landowner believes property is not a state area of responsibility—but disputes about the fee’s legality or financial hardship are not reasons for a redetermination, according to Cal Fire’s website.
In the meantime, some legislators have demanded immediate repeal of the fee and it’s under attack from an anti-tax group.
“The fire tax was enacted at a time when the budget situation was in worse shape than today in an attempt to shore up spending in other areas of government on the backs of rural Californians,” said Senator Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga, who is leading the repeal effort with his Senate Bill 198. “Legislative leaders should recognize that we’re now past that situation and repeal it,” he said.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association sued the state on behalf of the hundreds of thousands who have paid the fee since the law took effect.
The group encourages rural landowners opposed to the fees to file a formal petition with Cal Fire as the lawsuit makes its way through the courts.
Arguing it was not passed by a two-thirds vote of lawmakers, the HJTA says it’s therefore unconstitutional and an “illegal tax.
The State Board of Equalization urges those opposed to the fee to pay in full first, and then appeal, according to the instructions on the petition forms.
“To avoid the accrual of interest and penalty, the full amount of the bill should be paid before filing a petition for redetermination,” the document states.
In September 2014, lawmakers passed a bill allowing the State Board of Forestry to adjust the $150 fee annually based on inflation.
• 4,427 Santa Clara County property owners (including 907 in Gilroy and 1,008 in Morgan Hill)
• 1,852 San Benito County property owners
• 16,789 Monterey County property owners
Do you owe the state?
• Click on this link to check if your property is in a fee area.
Source: Lynne Tolmachoff, public information officer for in Cal Fire; Venus Stromberg, spokesperson for the California Board of Equalization
