MENDOCINO CO., 11/6/24 — A ballot measure to authorize a special tax to support services provided by the Albion-Little River Fire Protection District appears to be rejected by voters according to unofficial results released by the county.
As of early Wednesday morning, 28.5% of the vote had been counted with Measure S receiving 57.66% votes in support and 42.34% opposed. The measure needs a two-thirds majority (66.67%) to pass.
Measure S seeks to increase the parcel unit tax for Albion-Little River residents. Measure S would be the first tax increase for the fire district in 10 years. Previous special taxes imposed by the fire district were a $40 tax passed in 2002, and a $75 tax passed in 2014.
The Albion-Little River Fire Protection District operates five fire stations in Albion and Little River, two unincorporated areas located on the central Mendocino Coast. The district’s service area is approximately 26 square miles. The district has both paid and volunteer firefighters.
Measure S will replace the $75 per parcel unit tax with a $300 per parcel unit tax, with a 2% annual increase.
The fire district estimates that the measure will bring in approximately $668,000 annually. All Measure S revenues will be placed in a fund that could only be used in the district. If passed, the tax’s first installment would be due in Dec. 2025.
According to Albion-Little River Fire Chief Michael Rees, the district’s volunteer firefighting model has become unsustainable. “We have the smallest roster and lowest turnout we’ve ever had historically,” Rees said. “And our call volume has gone up 300% in the last 10 years.”
5th District Supervisor Ted Williams, whose district includes Albion and Little River, emphasized that insufficient fire protection services could harm property owners’ ability to purchase fire insurance. Williams once served as fire chief for the district.
“If the community wants continued fire services, they need to fund the district adequately. If not, insurability will continue to decline,” Williams warned.
I was a ALRFD member about 14 years ago and at that time the department responded to about 225 – 250 calls per year. It would be interesting to see the numbers behind the “300 per cent increase” in the past 10 years. It’s hard to believe they’re seeing about 700 calls per year.
Hello ALRFD Community,
I am not surprised that Measure S is failing.
In my time as an EMT Firefighter, late 80s through mid 90s, our roster also fell from 33 to about 17 volunteers in a short time. In my opinion, what preceded this fall was the serious lack of morale within the volunteers. If for whatever reason, the morale is not nurtured from the top down, meaning the Chief and the Board of Directors, there goes one of the main factors and reasons that keeps the volunteers signing up. When the volunteers lose the feeling that they are very well appreciated and loved, there goes the morale and the roster plummets.
Just maybe, what Measure S could have been about is: Do we, our community, want to do away with a volunteer department and have only paid members? I am not proposing this but having only one member pulling down $90,000 per year and everyone else, nada, is not working out, it’s plain to see.
No amount of money will ever buy the great morale necessary to sustain a volunteer rural fire department.
thank you.
Glad to see Sydney is covering these local Fire Dept. issues. I see some conflict in these times as some people try to earn a living by working in a volunteer fire dept. We certainly don’t want to undermine the viability of emergency response by our vote. I hope we hear more about this it seems pretty important. Thanks everyone.