Home Contra Costa County Discovery Bay Rescinds Support of “ECV” Tax Reallocation Plan to Fund Fire District

Discovery Bay Rescinds Support of “ECV” Tax Reallocation Plan to Fund Fire District

by ECT

Last week, the Town of Discovery Bay Community Services District changed course and officially pulled its support of a plan by East County Voters For Equal Protection (ECV) who hoped to re-allocate funds from agencies and distribute it to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

Suggested funding agencies give up under ECV Plan

The ECV plan asks about 30 agencies to shift a combined $7.8 million of the $154 million of property taxes collected within the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District jurisdiction to the fire district—on a voluntary basis.

Under the plan, the agency recipients of the ad valorem property tax to voluntarily shift a small portion (5.2 percent) of their property tax allocation percentage to the fire district. District taxpayers would not be asked to pay any additional taxes.

A total of six school districts and 5 irrigation district had recently come out publicly against the plan while Discovery Bay was the only agency who came out in support of the idea last November.

At the March 15, 2017 CSD meeting, Board Member Kevin Graves stated he originally supported the idea, but in looking at it further, he wanted it reviewed by the Board after more information was coming forward.

“Looking at the things that occurred since then, I would like to board to reconsider our position,” stated Graves. “First of all, there has been a recent redirecting of approximately $750,000 annually to the ECCFPD from Discovery Bay that directly benefits Discovery Bay. We are already paying more per capita into the fire district than the surrounding areas. Secondly, six east county school districts wrote letters of non-support for reallocation which takes out over 50% of the funds which we as smaller district would be asked to make up because they are off the table.”

Graves further highlighted that five east county irrigation agencies that have expressed opposition.

“In fact, we are the only one who took a supportive stance to that option with regards with funding ECCFPD,” said Graves. “By sending out this letter of support, we are really saying hey let’s take more money away from our community who is going to have budget problems in the future.

Graves stated he thought it was “unwise” for Discovery Bay to take their current position and asked the board to reconsider support and instead change their position to “oppose” while supporting the idea of changing the voter threshold to 55% on essential services—like the school district have from 66% to 55%.

David Piepho spoke during Public Comments and stated he was glad to see the CSD reconsider its position.

“This is nothing more than a shell game by moving funds and replacing funds. The unfortunate part is the reallocation part gets done, the voters don’t get a say. I think that is really important to point out” said Piepho. “If that was done legislatively, they take money from you, you have no idea how much they want to take, then have to backfill it creatively with bonds or asking for more money to fund things like the community center or our needs. By lowering the threshold, which I am not a big fan of, just like the schools, emergency services are very essential to us and at least we get a vote which is democracy at work. By changing the lower thresholds, at least we are then not dictated to by a minority vote.”

Piepho reminded the board that every study on the ECCFPD has said they do not have a spending problem, but rather a revenue problem.

“They are doing a great job running the district. They run on a bare minimum and small budget,” said Piepho. “There is no magic money machine except to get money from the taxpayers. I don’t want to pay more taxes, but when we hear response times of 11-minutes, we are kind of stuck between two choices we are not excited about.”

Bob Mankin thanked the board for discussing their position on the shell game ECV was playing with the community.

“There was a study done last year to better understand what the fire district needs to service the existing district for now and 25-years into the future which is 9 stations and $14.5 million over and above what they have right now,” explained Mankin. “It’s not an amount you are going to get by reshuffling the deck or searching between your couch cushions to pay the mortgage, its just not going to work.”

“Reallocation is a zero sum game. If you are going to re-allocate in Sacramento, whoever pulls it off, you are going to have to lose something to gain better fire services,” said Mankin. “Someone is going to come up and advocate from that entity you are trying to take money from, so keep that in mind. I will continue to support the fire district and support plans that make sense, but the ECV plan never made sense.”

The Board agreed with Graves and voted 5-0 to rescind the support on March 15 and encouraged the fire board to work on a long-term fix. Meanwhile, they stated they hoped to get a representative on the fire board as soon as possible whether it be appointed or elected.

Last week, the CSD finalized their position by approving the item in their consent calendar.

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8 comments

BWood Apr 14, 2017 - 12:40 pm

Kudos to Discovery Bay and Kevin Graves for doing the right thing. I hope this reminds us all that being vigilant, keeping informed and staying on top of issues is what we elect our public officials to do.

Pat J Apr 14, 2017 - 2:48 pm

Im ignorant to prop 13 and Ive always heard that it is political suicide to bring it up…..it is there an opportunity for the cities in East Contra Costa to be rezoned as Suburban and not rural? The fire district was protecting a rural area back in the 1970s but we all know that has changed.

Tralfaz Apr 15, 2017 - 1:43 am

Pat, east county is already classified as Suburban. It’s not urban and it’s not rural. The classification has nothing to do with California Proposition 13 as we know it today.

Taxes were never meant to be exact or fair. They are Taxes, not charges for service. This is a fundamental misconception most taxpayers have.

Our fire district doesn’t have enough operational money to meet the needs of the people it serves. When this happens with other providers an information campaign is launched and bonds, assessments or fees are proposed. The fire district commissioners have done a poor job of outreach and as a result financial needs have been rejected by the voters. So we currently get the three fire stations we pay for. It’s been explained in detail by the fire board. It’s as simple as that. Any other explaination that is being offered is not factual.

Realistic Apr 17, 2017 - 8:35 am

The original tax exchange from the county was under costs to fund the expected result. This entire fiasco rests on the supervisor at the time for not preventing today’s disaster. Tax reallocation is the only solution other than dumping the union. At least ECV has a solution. Everyone else just chases their tails.

ECT Apr 17, 2017 - 10:23 am

Sorry but ECV has no solution, I don’t know how many times or ways we can say it… their plan is ILLEGAL!

Frank Apr 17, 2017 - 10:07 pm

You citizens are unrealistic. You pay 500-1 million for a home but won’t fund the fire department. The fire department will give you the best bang for your buck. Anytime you call 911 for anything in a normal funded fire district will be at your home in less than 5 mins. This means medical calls, accidents, fires, burst water pipes, lift assists, leaky water heater, pilot light that won’t light during a winter when PG and E can’t get to your home in 6 days, vehicle lock outs, home lock outs, down trees, down wires, down power lines, overflow toilet that won’t turn off, gas leaks in your house, chemical spills, vehicle accidents, water rescues, backed up sump pump flooding your home, you name it. These men and women are the jack of all trades for a 5 min response!! You can’t pay or get a 5 min response from any other service, not from public works, not from parks and Rec, and not from the school district. Antioch has better fire service than you! Keep it up and other service will be dwindled and so will the quality of life in the towns of Brentwood, Oakley, discovery bay. Shell out the money and pay for the service, it is worth the investment. you citizens are ok paying high tiered water rates, putting up with a deserted undeveloped downtown, but will not shell out a few hundred dollars to open existing stations. Time to get rid of the old regein, time for new young youthful blood

court Apr 23, 2017 - 7:11 am

Frank, Frankly it sounds like you are a political pounding the blog with hopes of a political career and agenda.
As to the rising costs of homes that is in direct relations to the lack of development and the huge influx of population to the region of the young and youthful that will soon be looking for Tax relief when the economy takes an adjustment which it will do soon, so all of those so called 500k-1 Million dollar homes become half there inflated value, all i can say is apply the collected taxes to public safety first then reallocate. No one is being unrealistic, by the way sometimes it takes PG&E 6 days in the Bay Area to restore service, and as to your list of BS the fire department or sherifs department do not and never have responded to the list your representing. Best of Luck in your political career it sounds like you have the right diatribe going.

court Apr 23, 2017 - 7:36 am

Frank, Frankly it sounds like you are a political pounding the blog with hopes of a political career and agenda.
As to the rising costs of homes that is in direct relations to the lack of development and the huge influx of population to the region of the young and youthful that will soon be looking for Tax relief when the economy takes an adjustment which it will do soon, so all of those so called 500k-1 Million dollar homes become half there inflated value, all i can say is apply the collected taxes to public safety first then reallocate. No one is being unrealistic, by the way sometimes it takes PG&E 6 days in the Bay Area to restore service, and as to your list of BS the fire department or sherifs department do not and never have responded to the list you’re representing. Best of Luck in your political career it sounds like you have the right diatribe going.

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