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Questions about Graton Fire’s first parcel tax after 70 years to hire career staff to support the existing volunteer firefighters and meet the ever-increasing emergency demand???
Come by the Graton Community Club at 6pm Wednesday, 6/28 to talk with the fire chief and Board Directors.
This is so long overdue. Close to 800 calls a year for a volunteer fire department is ridiculous. We were doing around 300 in the 70s when I was a Graton Firefighter and that was a lot.
Two things I would like to see are hiring from within the ranks and a parcel tax that is not the same for a residential lot and it is for a wine operation worth 100 million with 70 employees. The later should pay more. An empty lot should pay less. There are many little lots out at the end of Green Valley Road that can't be built on. They shouldn't have to pay the same as a developed parcel.
While I agree that parcel taxes are somewhat regressive, they might be the only way to play. After all, the county, aka sonoma fire, is waiting to scoop up graton fire, with a higher parcel tax. The increasing call load is driven by aging demographics, ie medical emergencies. The real question is how much community resource do we want to devote to keep old people from dying?
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Posted in reply to the post by Goat Rock Ukulele:
By the very nature of your question you may have an answer. The aging demographic means older people are paying more of the taxes in the fire district. Medical calls have always been the majority of calls. They are the most important calls in my opinion. We live in a district where wild land fire risk is low due to vineyards and orchards. If your insured house burns down that's a bad thing but if you lose your life due to a medical emergency that could be mitigated by a rapid response and there is no response that's the terrible thing at any age.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by rossmen:
I don't know how or why age should be brought into this discussion. Is the dispatcher supposed to ask the age of the guy or gal who is having sudden severe chest pain, sweating and vomiting. Oh sorry your dad is 70 we don't respond to folks of that age. That would be insane.
In the 70s when I was with Graton Fire, medical was almost and after thought. We went on tons of medical calls. We had to respond with 450 gallons of water slowing us to a crawl up the hills. I believe Graton has at least one dedicated medical vehicle now. I would like to see Graton Fire be able to transport as well if and when we go to a manned station. We lost our local ER. Direct transport could be a life saver.
Like you I'm for graton fire staying in local control and not being swallowed by the county. And the additional parcel tax might be less! What's not to like? I responded because you raised the question of taxing parcels differently by use and size. This is a trouble making question in our increasingly regulatory politic world. The fact that fire service is now mostly medical response service is just the elephant. That and traffic control at vehicular accidents.
And yes, I raised the question of how much public service we want to delay our inevitable death. I can only answer that for myself.
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Posted in reply to the post by Goat Rock Ukulele:
The Fire Chief said at the meeting to the best of my memory.
$250 per year for residential (plus $125 for a second dwelling as in a granny unit or second house)
$300 for commercial plus 14 cents a foot. (I could be wrong about the $300, at any rate it was more for commercial plus the additional 14 cents.) So if the wine operation has 50,000 square feet of commercial space they would pay $300 plus $7000 for the square footage
Vacant unbuildable lots would be less
That meets the fairness test I was looking for. This measure will be the only one on the ballot and require 2/3 yes vote to pass.
Our Chief is an very bright and dedicated guy. We are very lucky to have him. He will not be one of the paid fireman. I was really impressed by how well thought out this plan is. The plan is to hire 6 full time. Their eventual retirement is figured in. There is a grant from I believe the feds or state available to help get this up and running.
This kind of freaks me out. The county workers are already taxing us up the ying yang. (Mark Ihde retired from the Sheriff's office with a $250,000 annual retirement plan and then went to work with Goodwill for $79,000/year. Thank God he's dead, we taxpayers cannot afford all these golden parachutes). If taxes are going to go sky high, you will be fighting fires in the woods accidentally started by people forced out of their homes by taxes. How about collecting from the people who are actually served by the calls. Maybe we'd be more careful then.
I personally have been served twice by Graton Fire in the past and they were very efficient, friendly and professional. I am not beating up on firefighters, I have 2 brothers who are retired firefighters,(bless them). What you are proposing is ANOTHER tax structure which only rich people will be able to afford.
Thank you for attending the meeting and sharing your opinions. Everything you said is correct except a second dwelling is only $100.
Anyone looking for more information can also visit www.GratonFire.com/Measure_F or call the fire station and ask for volunteer fire chief Bill Bullard, 707-823-8400 x101. Thanks!
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Posted in reply to the post by Goat Rock Ukulele:
Thanks for your input. Our Board has stated their desire to hire from within or, at a minimum, provide preference to those who have volunteered for years.
Commercial business, like wineries, are taxed at a higher rate due to the increased demand for services (e.g., fire alarms, medical emergencies for employees and guests). However, agricultural land does not cause the same level of demand and, therefore, is not included as commercial. As we found out during the Tubbs Fire, vineyards are a natural fire break and helped slow down the horrible fires.
I hope this helps explain some of the rationale behind our decision making.
Bill Bullard
Fire Chief
Graton Fire
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Posted in reply to the post by Goat Rock Ukulele:
Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. We haven't done the math, but our proposed parcel tax is consistent with the new Sonoma County Fire District... they charge per residential square foot whereas we are a flat $250. No idea their average residential parcel tax is more or less than what we proposed. They also can't just take us over without our consent (or a lot of opposition from our community)!
We are doing a much better job now of not committing resources to someone who is ready to die. Between hospice care, POLST, DNR, and others, there are now options for a more humane and respectful end. Personally, I am glad that we have choices to offer patients and families instead of "everyone has to go the hospital" when I started in the 1980s.
Most of our medical calls, are "acute" in nature and not related to someone close to death. That could be a car crash needing extrication, a fall from a ladder, asthma attack, or an allergic reaction.
Hope this helps and feel free to reply, call, or email with addiitonal thoughts, questions, concerns, etc.
Bill Bullard
Fire Chief
Graton Fire
707.823.8400 x101
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Posted in reply to the post by rossmen:
Thanks for sharing your opinions and thoughts about the proposed parcel tax. No one likes taxes, including me! Personally, I can't stand it when the government's solution to a financial problem is us! What happened to the first (or second or third) parcel tax that was supposed to meet the needs of the hospitals, schools, roads, etc.???
Our volunteer department has been serving Graton and the surrounding community for 70 years without a parcel tax. We are not asking taxpayers to bail us out of a financial crisis we created. We are in the black, have always been in the black, and live within our means every year.
What we can't control is the number of emergencies each year and the double digit growth. When I started volunteering in 1998, we ran 300+ calls; 20 years later, we're about to break 800 calls. No volunteer fire service handles more emergencies than we do in over a decade. Combine this demand with the decreasing volunteers who work in the fire district and/or can afford to live here, and we have a recipe for unsustainability.
Due to 2013 changes in retirement benefits, the days of golden parachutes are gone. Our new firefighters will have to work longer and contribute more towards their retirements than their predecessors. We are looking to pay an average/fair wage to our staff so they can afford to live here, have a family, and encourage them to stay with us. This is much less than what the Sonoma County Fire District, Santa Rosa, and others are paying... but fair for the work demanded.
The residential parcel tax is $250; consistent with the $200-$300 that other fire district taxpayers experience. That is less than 70 cents/day or one Starbucks a week. Other fire departments (including Rancho Adobe) do charge for their responses to emergencies. Our Board has considered this in the past, but the actual yield is very low - roughly $20,000 for our call volume. Not a solution for us.
Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and allowing us to have a great dialogue about "why now," "why me," etc. Also, it is heartwarming as your fire chief to hear that your two experiences with our volunteer firefighters were efficient, friendly, and professional... music to my ears!
All the best,
Bill Bullard
Fire Chief
Graton Fire
707.823.8400 x101
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Posted in reply to the post by Dorothy Friberg: