Homeowners and businesses could have to pay $12.50 for each
$1,000 of their insurance premiums if a 1.25-percent surcharge
proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to defray fire protection
costs passes the legislature.
Homeowners and businesses could have to pay $12.50 for each $1,000 of their insurance premiums if a 1.25-percent surcharge proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to defray fire protection costs passes the legislature.
Because it isn’t a tax, which would require two-thirds vote of the legislature, the fee can pass on a simple-majority vote. For South County homeowners, whose monthly insurance premium ranges between $500 and $1,200 per year, the surcharge would be $6.25 to $15 a year, said Carl Schindler, an agent with State Farm in Morgan Hill. With more than 27,000 units in South County, South County homeowners’ share of the fee going into the state coffers could be as much as $438,750.
The surcharge proposal was among dozens of recommendations in the governor’s 2008-09 fiscal year budget. Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency that requires state legislators to begin deliberating on the new budget within 45 days.
The surcharge would raise more than $125 million per year and be “used to offset an otherwise $44.7 million reduction … for fire protection programs,” according to a report from Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage was reviewing the proposal and couldn’t comment on how it would affect the county. David Kline, spokesman for the California Taxpayers’ Association, said the organization was waiting for the legislature to begin discussions before taking a stance.
“We’re waiting to see it in legislative form, at that point we’ll be able to determine whether it would be defined as a fee or a tax,” he said.
Last month, county Supervisor Ken Yeager asked county staff to come up with funding options for a plan that would include the creation of a property tax assessment district to fund pro-active fire protection in the county’s fire-prone areas, including South County hillsides. A similar district in Oakland levies a property tax of $65 per household. Staff has yet to come back to the board with recommendations, but supervisor Don Gage said he would support the tax.
If the proposal passes the state legislature homeowners in Morgan Hill and Gilroy would have to start paying the surcharge starting July 1. Because renters wouldn’t have to pay, Schindler said homeowners may be unfairly asked to bear the burden.
“This is almost an addition to a property tax, disguised cleverly as a fee to a homeowners’ policy,” he said.
CalFire, a fire department operated by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, would get more than $33 million to fund 387 new positions, increase staffing from three to four firefighters at each fire station and outfit the firefighting fleet with new global positioning systems. It would also be used to replace 10 helicopters and the purchase of 100 new fire engines, according to Laird’s report.
*Last September’s Lick Fire in Henry W. Coe State Park – which Schwarzenegger proposes to close to save money – cost CalFire $12.5 million to combat. That wildfire, the biggest in Santa Clara County’s recent history, consumed 47,760 acres and destroyed four cabins and 20 outbuildings. Last month, a 51-year-old San Juan Bautista school teacher was charged with a misdemeanor for her alleged role in setting off the blaze that raged on for eight days before firefighters brought it under control.
The California Professional Firefighters has voiced its support for the fee.
“With the second 100-year fire in the last four years still fresh in our minds, the very nature of the fire danger in California has changed,” Lou Paulson, president of California Professional Firefighters, said in a statement. “The governor’s proposals recognize this stark new reality and responds by getting more resources where they’re needed the most.”
How CalFire could benefit:
$28.9 million and 1,100 seasonal firefighters to staff all 336 state fire engines with full four-member crews during peak and transition fire seasons.
$4.2 million and 3.8 positions to install GPS tracking on key pieces of equipment, such as fire engines and aircraft, linked to computer-aided dispatching.
$44.7 million in 2008-09 to backfill the budget balancing reductions. Restoring these budget-balancing reductions will prevent the closing of 20 one-engine fire stations, 11 conservation camps, and one helitack base.
A multi-year expenditure plan to enable CalFire to purchase 11 new, all-weather, 24-hour firefighting helicopters over the next six years.
*Source: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget Web site, gov.ca.gov
