Felton Fire Protection District (FFPD) has been in the news of late due to the calamitous nature of its board and leadership, and the issues continue as the district attempts to garner community support for a $700 per year parcel tax proposal.
At a special meeting on Sept. 6, the board and chief convened to discuss the potential of getting the parcel tax initiative on a special election ballot in December.
The sparsely-attended public meeting raised more questions and concerns than answers, and the board determined that in order to place the item on the December ballot, the final vote amongst the board would need to take place on Sept. 11 for submission to the county on Sept. 12. (The county stipulates an 88-day period between submission of the ballot language and the date of the special election, leaving the board only one day to vote on the proposal before submitting it to the county for inclusion.)
At the conclusion of the Saturday special meeting, another special meeting was scheduled for Sept. 11, ostensibly to vote on balloting the measure. That meeting was packed to the rafters with local voters, and the message from the public to the district was clear: More information was needed on how the funds were going to be allocated before voters would concede to having the initiative on a ballot.
While members of the public were awaiting the board’s vote on passing the resolution for inclusion on the December ballot, Director Erica Schwanbeck noted that the board had decided to hold the measure until a special election in July, affording the district more time to assess the pros and cons of the parcel tax and allowing the community greater feedback opportunities. The meeting that was supposed to result in a board vote was now just a special meeting with no determined outcome planned.
Unfortunately, Interim Chief Isaac Blum was unable to attend that meeting, so the information the public was clamoring for was unavailable to them.
In addition, the board was not able to answer specific questions regarding the expenditure of the parcel tax. How much of it would go to training, apparatus or station upgrades? What amount would be allocated toward Blum’s salary in the event he agreed to leave his position as a captain at NASA Ames/Moffett Field for a full time chief’s gig with FFPD? What would the potential exclusions be for landowners in Felton, and would the tax last beyond the proposed five-year period?
While the board hinted at exclusions for non-buildable and/or contiguous parcels, there was also some discussion around low-income Feltonians, and what the parcel tax would mean for those who live within the county’s 50-80% AMI (area median income). While figures adjust each year, in 2025, a single-person household in Santa Cruz County is considered low-income if they earn less than $111,100 annually, while a two-person household qualifies if they earn less than $127,000.
Given those numbers, it’s possible that the majority of parcel owners will not see a decrease in the $700 amount due each year, but the majority of renters would be impacted by that tax. There are approximately 988 renters in Felton, meaning about 30% of all homes are occupied by renters. If the parcel tax is levied according to the income of the owner and not the occupants, that means those costs will be passed on to the home’s inhabitants.
In addition, business owners who rent their space in Felton will also have the tax levied against them, leaving some businesses unable to survive given the economic impact.
While some attendees at Thursday’s meeting indicated support for the parcel tax, the unanswered questions left others unable to formulate an opinion on the proposal. It was clear from the meeting that support for the line personnel was positively fervent, but other concerns arose as inaccurate information regarding training, call volume and response times, and the district’s PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) liability permeated the room.
Following the Sept. 11 meeting, FFPD held a regular board meeting on Sept. 15 at 6:35pm. (Board meetings are generally set for 6pm, but a technological snafu required the meeting to start later than normal.)
While this meeting was also sparsely attended, Chief Blum was present, and based on the messaging from the FFPD board at the prior meeting, attendees were eager to hear how the board and chief’s budget would be broken down to cover the myriad of costs purported to be covered by the $700 annual parcel tax; after all, Blum’s inability to attend that meeting had resulted in the community being frustrated with the lack of transparency by the board.
The answer? Crickets. Blum, despite assurances from the board that the numbers would be forthcoming at the Sept. 15 meeting, stated that he didn’t have the finalized budget yet and was unwilling to share draft numbers lest it result in “hysteria” within the community. However, the lack of data to support the contentions of such a proposal has contributed to increased community concern and uncertainty.
As of this writing, FFPD is the only fire agency in Santa Cruz County that has not yet submitted a finalized budget to the county. The district’s solution is to have the budget shared at the Sept. 29 board meeting for all to see, and then to hold at least one workshop to allow the community to weigh in on the proposed numbers for the upcoming year.
For those interested in better understanding the FFPD budget, the next regularly scheduled board meeting is on Monday, Sept. 29, at 6pm in the Community Room of Felton Fire, on the corner of Gushee and Kirby.
