Wildfire Mitigation Tax on the Special Ballot in September

Serene Lakes is in the Truckee Fire Protection District and is included in the District-wide wildfire mitigation tax that will be on the special ballot in September. For the District-wide wildfire mitigation tax to pass, a two thirds majority is required to approve the $179 tax.  A few points of clarification for those who have asked about funding the Early Warning System and at least the annual maintenance of $9,000. Here is some information that will interest you.

Unfortunately, Serene Lakes is part of an area where the Fire District doesn’t receive a portion of the ad valorem property tax that you pay the County each year.  Typically for a 500k valued home the Fire District would receive around $500 to support fire and EMS response.  However, because of the inconsistent implementation of Proposition 13 way back in the day, the Fire District was left out of the equation.  To partially solve that the County and Donner Summit Fire (old fire department in the area back then) created a $100 assessment.  In the late 2000’s another $50 assessment occurred that has grown with the consumer price index to the current amount of $169.  Because Donner Summit Fire was really not viable without the typical tax revenues, the Truckee Fire District annexed Donner Summit Fire about 15 years ago and was able to maintain emergency services to the area.  So, in summary, the $169 is used for general support of emergency services.

In 2016 the Fire District did a community wildfire prevention plan (CWPP) with community input and identified a lot of lands in and around neighborhoods that need to have fire fuel reduction.  Serene Lakes was included in that and as you are aware is surrounded by forested land, some of which is in need of fuels reduction and hazard removal.  Also, the one access road has been identified frequently as an area that needs fuel reduction to keep the ingress and egress open in the event of a fire in the area. 

Over the last 5 years since the CWPP plan there has been some important fuels reduction work done around Serene Lakes, but frankly not enough.  In short, the lack of funding is the biggest barrier to getting this work done.  The current tax revenues support emergency services, but not an ongoing fuels reduction effort.  A significant dedicated revenue source for this type of fuels reduction, evacuation route maintenance and assisting property owners with defensible space and green waste removal will help reduce the wildfire threat and create long term, sustainable mitigation.  One good example is, if the funding was in place, I believe things like the new serene lakes early warning system annual maintenance fees could be funded and maintained with these funds. We would work with the Truckee Fire to provide our input on the use of the funds. Currently, Truckee Fire provides SLPOA with $5,000 annually as a contribution to the chipping program, but to really support the green waste and other needs correctly there needs to be a larger amount of funds.   The Truckee Fire Protection District's proposed wildfire mitigation tax would provide additional funds. 

There is more information at https://www.truckeefire.org/wildfireprotectionmeasure  Read about the CWPP and financial accountability including the citizens committee, 8-year sunset and low-income exemption.  Watch a short video on the tax measure at:  https://vimeo.com/535950810/4ddf22d5de