By Christine Morente
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
BELMONT, Calif. -- If public hearings in Belmont and San Carlos over the past two days are any indication, the outlook for the fire assessment looks grim.
Criticisms of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Assessment were nearly identical during two public hearings, causing both City Councils to fiercely defend the two taxes proposed to sustain the Fire Department for the next 15 years.
On Monday, the San Carlos City Council heard arguments about the necessity of its $99 fire assessment, while Tuesday night, about a handful of property owners questioned the Belmont City Council and its staff on the $93 assessment.
Residents in both forums expressed concerns over the fact that the ballot was not cast anonymously, fearful that anyone could see how they voted. They also were worried that the cities would mismanage the money.
Henry Gold, a Belmont resident, said he is upset that the city wasn’t up front with how the money was going to be used. He voted “no.”
Nowhere in the ballot does it tell the public that half of the cost of the assessment is going to fund (a firefighter’s) retirement plan,” Gold said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. Half of the people here wouldn’t be here.”
Tuesday night was the deadline to turn in mail-in ballots for Belmont, while it was Monday night for San Carlos.
Muni-Financial, a San Francisco firm, started counting ballots Tuesday morning in San Carlos. Preliminary results for that city could be available today. The firm also began tallying Belmont’s ballots this morning, with results available Thursday.
If both assessments pass, the taxes would raise a combined $2.26 million a year, for 15 years. Commercial businesses in both cities will be assessed based on a property’s square footage.
A simple majority is needed to passthe assessments. Property owners of single-family homes would pay 65 percent of the assessment’s value.
Belmont Councilman Dave Warden, who is also on the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department Commission, said he respects that people want to vote “no” on the assessment. But he argued that the two city’s general funds are the departments only financing.
“The fact is, we don’t have any money,” Warden said. “The fact is, we have accumulated a lot of debt. We’re trying to do everything we can to keep costs down. But I’m proud of our fire department and I hope our fire assessment passes.”
Both meetings weren’t devoid of supporters. Kathy Lynch of San Carlos said she wasn’t willing to lose her home to a fire, while Sheila Cockshott of Belmont said she wants to pay for her safety.
“This is an issue of the common good,” Cockshott said. “I don’t think people should adopt the attitude of (needing the fire department) won’t happen to them.”