Monday, 11 February 2008 01:03

Sales Tax for County Fire Protection?

slide14.pngAt its meeting next Tuesday afternoon, the Amador Fire Protection Authority may make a decision to place a sales tax initiative to pay for county fire services on the November ballot. In 2006, Amador County voters defeated Measure L which would have levied a quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund some paid firefighter positions throughout the county. At the board’s January meeting, Sutter Creek Fire Chief Butch Martin asked the AFPA Board to make a decision on whether or not it would try a sales tax initiative again this year.

The AFPA board will also consider making a request to the Amador Board of Supervisors to allocate a portion of the county’s property tax revenues to fire protection. That came at the request of Amador Fire Protection District Chief Jim McCart, who asked the Board to consider a property tax proposal be put on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. The February 12th meeting will be held at 4:00 p.m in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the County Administration Center in Jackson.

 

In a related story -- In January, the Amador Fire Protection District responded to 160 incidents.  78 medical aid calls and 25 vehicle accidents accounted for 64% of the number of calls made.  There were 8 fire-related calls -- 4 structure fires, 2 chimney fires and 2 vegetation fires.  59% of the total calls occurred between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm – the number of calls during normal business hours relates to the need for paid firefighters during the day when volunteers may work out of the area or be unable to leave their jobs for an emergency call.