Court case another blow to Olivehurst Fire Department

Residents in Olivehurst have already voted against paying more for fire service. Now a state court case has put the viability of a 2003 ballot assessment for 24-hour fire service there in doubt.

As a result, the Olivehurst Public Utility District's board of directors voted in a special meeting Monday to instead go back to a 1991 assessment on 50 homes, and shuffle around property tax revenues, to keep the fire department afloat awhile longer.

"I'm extremely dismayed that every decision we make tonight will affect the community," said Director Jeff Phinney before the vote.

Under what the board approved on a 4-1 vote, the fire department will now get 73 percent of property-tax revenues for historic Olivehurst, versus 27 percent for parks. As of July 1, the percentage was 68-32 in favor of fire.

The board also voted unanimously to re-enact the 1991 California Heartlands Fire Benefit Assessment, which charges $88.52 for 50 homes added to the district that year, for a total of about $4,500.

Even by doing so, Olivehurst fire service will see cutbacks. At the level of property-tax split the board approved, and with the possibility of getting a loan, there will only be enough money for a chief, a full-time fire engineer and a part-time clerk.

Currently, the Fire Department has the chief, clerk and three full-time captains. Under a separate vote, directors also gave OPUD General Manager Tim Shaw the go-ahead to begin negotiating fire department layoffs.

Parks will also be affected, with less watering and mowing at Olivehurst parks, and the probable closure of the Olivehurst pool after this year.

Shaw told directors tough times called for hard decisions. "None of the options involves pool operations," he said, adding there wasn't money for both parks and pools. "If you try to do both, you'll be able to do neither."

OPUD's directors were forced into a corner on paying for the already financially strapped fire department after a state appeals court ruling last month on a 2007 fire benefit assessment election in Calaveras County.

As OPUD did in 2003, the Calaveras election was held under Proposition 218, which allows a majority vote to enact an assessment for a special benefit, in this case fire protection.

Because a judge ruled fire protection is more of a general benefit, and therefore an assessment for it could only be approved by a two-thirds vote, OPUD counsel Jeffrey Meith said he'd recommend against enacting the 2003 assessment for now.

"I think this case casts such a significant cloud over special benefit assessments that I can't recommend collecting the special benefit," Meith told the board.

If subsequent rulings find the 2007 election was properly conducted, he said, OPUD's directors could enact the assessment again later.

CONTACT reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4786.