Groveland CSD votes 5-0 to rescind tax plan
The Groveland Community Services District Board of Directors voted 5-0 at a public meeting Tuesday morning to rescind a controversial tax plan it approved in August that was aimed at funding the agency’s cash-strapped fire department.
Part of the seven-part action recommended by GCSD staff and approved by the board on Tuesday includes seeking a future cost-sharing agreement with Tuolumne County on fire and emergency response coverage for the Highway 120 corridor, as well as forming a committee to work with community stakeholders on an alternative funding measure for fire services.
About 15 people sat in the audience at the Groveland Community Hall to listen, comment, and ask questions during the meeting.
Pete Kampa, the GCSD general manager who spearheaded the new tax plan, and three board members were present in the hall. Two other board members attended the meeting remotely. The community facilities district tax plan was conceived to tax future development so that GCSD can sustain fire coverage along the mountainous end of Highway 120 in the south county.
However, the plan became a flashpoint issue in recent months after many GCSD ratepayers learned details about it and took
part in an online campaign against it.
Kampa estimated in a staff report that rescinding the tax, known as CFD 2021-1, would reduce future revenue for expansion of fire department staffing by $1.17 million annually.
The Groveland Fire Department’s poor financial condition stems from expiration of a local property assessment in 2012, Kampa explained, as well as its obligation to respond to emergency calls outside of GCSD’S coverage area without compensation for those calls.
“We’ve been looking for a way to keep our fire department sustainable as more developments are built in and near our coverage area,” Kampa said before the board voted. “How long are we going to be able to sustain the fire department?”
Incidents that Groveland Fire has responded to have increased over the past two decades from 367 incidents in 2005 to 783 incidents in 2019, Kampa said.
John Armstrong, one of three board members present in the room, said 37% of the department’s time is spent outside GCSD boundaries.
Bruce Thompson, a 47year resident of Pine Mountain Lake, said he was pleased the GCSD board
rescinded the new tax plan before it could take effect.
“What they had was garbage.” he said. “Now, they’re going to start over. They have not yet succeeded at getting the out of service area calls to pay their share. They need to fix that.”
Asked after Tuesday’s meeting what happens next, Kampa said a draft policy amendment will be prepared by GCSD to outline future commercial and residential subdivision projects subject to requirement for creation of, or an
nexation to a community facilities district to receive fire and park services.
Drafting of the policy will begin right away, Kampa said, and GCSD will coordinate with the county in preparation of the policy to ensure solid implementation strategy.
“New projects meeting this policy definition of residential subdivision and large commercial project will be required to create a CFD or join an existing CFD as a condition of approval of the project by the
county planning commission,” Kampa said.
In addition, the GCSD board intends to meet in January 2022 to consider scope of work, responsibility, and desired membership for a new committee of board members and community members to work with GCSD management to develop a financial strategy to ensure solid emergency response services, meeting industry staffing and response time standards, for the long term, Kampa said.
Kampa added that
GCSD needs to replace fire engines at $750,000-plus each and does not have the cash to pay for them, or the cash flow to fund a loan.
“As the manager of this critical fire and emergency response service provider, I am concerned that we are one fire engine failure away from a financial catastrophe,” he said.