Ripon tax measure could bring firefighters to empty fire station
RIPON — The Ripon Consolidated Fire District has introduced a new tax measure landowners can vote on this summer that would help staff an empty fire station.
This monthly parcel tax increase would allow the district to staff an empty station on the north side of the city. But, this isn't the only fire department keeping a close eye on this tax measure.
Manteca and Ripon share an automatic aid agreement, which means whoever is closer to an emergency would respond or when either city has too many emergency calls to handle, the other would step in.
Fire officials, however, say that could change.
The Ripon Fire District has one fire truck, one ambulance and one station to cover 55 square miles.
"The fire district has been very frugal with their money," said Fire Chief Eric DeHart.
Chief DeHart said fire staff have been doing what they could with what they got, but they need help. The district introduced a new parcel tax to landowners within their response area.
The new monthly tax increase could be anywhere from $21 for single-family homes and up to $16,000 a year for apartment complexes with over 100 units.
"If it's vacant land with nothing on it, it's one price. If it's land with a home on it, it's another price," Chief DeHart said.
This parcel tax was upped to $75 a month in 1985 but DeHart said it has been untouched since.
"If you can imagine, if you owned a grocery store and if you were selling your products on the shelf at 1985 prices, you wouldn't be in business very long," DeHart said.
What was supposed to be the district's second fire station sits on Ripon Road and has had its garage doors closed and the fire engine inside unused ever since 2014, when it was first established.
DeHart said it will remain that way unless something changes.
"Revenue streams that we are currently operating out of are not enough to continue the same level of service we have today as well as the rising cost and challenges we face in the future," DeHart said.
Manteca Fire Chief David Marks said they've seen Ripon's fire district spread thin, and that most of the time, with the automatic aid agreement, it's Manteca that is going to help Ripon.
"That automatic aid agreement is no longer working as we intended it to," Marks said. "It's somewhat one-sided."
Now, the Manteca City Council is keeping a close eye on the parcel tax in Ripon because, if staffing doesn't change in Ripon, Manteca could be called into the city even more, resulting in a potentially imbalanced agreement.
"Nothing is off the table at this time but we are evaluating a solution," said Manteca Mayor Gary Singh. "At the same time, not impacting our department to the point where we can't take care of our residents."
One thing to note for the parcel tax measure, for every dollar your tax is increasing that's a vote for your household. So, if your tax goes up $250 a year, that means you have 250 votes on the tax measure.
If you live in the district's response time, you'll get your new and corrected version of the ballot in about two weeks.