“About
5% of the estimated 825,000 fire tax bills are in the mail so far.”
said Runner. “The state is currently sending bills to taxpayers in
Calaveras County. Up next are Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte and El
Dorado counties.”
The
tax, which Runner opposes as “unfair and unconstitutional,” was
approved as a fee on a dubious simple majority vote of the Legislature
last year and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.
“Not
one penny of this new tax will be used to put out fires,” cautioned
Runner. “The funds collected—optimistically projected to be $84
million—are restricted to funding existing fire prevention efforts and
cannot be used for firefighters or actual fire suppression.”
The
new law requires residential rural property owners in the State
Responsibility Area (SRA) to pay $150 for each habitable structure
located on their land. Property owners who pay for local fire protection
receive a $35 reduction.
To help inform California taxpayers, Runner has established a website, calfirefee.com,
providing information about the new fire tax. Californians can visit
this site to find out if they will receive a fire tax bill. They can
also learn details regarding the process, timeline and grounds for
filing an appeal.
The
state plans to mail more than 825,000 bills in alphabetical order by
county between August and early December. The state has released the
following partial mailing schedule, as well as a complete county-by-county bill count.
County
|
Mailing Date
|
Number of Bills
|
ALAMEDA
|
August 13th through 14th
|
4,231
|
ALPINE
|
August 14th
|
1,697
|
AMADOR
|
August 14th through 17th
|
11,569
|
BUTTE
|
August 17th through 24th
|
21,051
|
CALAVERAS
|
August 24th through 29th
|
23,224
|
COLUSA
|
August 29th
|
411
|
CONTRA COSTA
|
August 29th
|
4,336
|
DEL NORTE
|
August 29th through 30th
|
5,393
|
EL DORADO
|
August 30th through September 7th
|
51,897
|
FRESNO
|
September 7th through 10th
|
9,845
|
GLENN
|
September 10th
|
327
|
HUMBOLDT
|
September 10th through 12th
|
15,824
|
IMPERIAL
|
September 12th
|
17
|
INYO
|
September 12th
|
3,132
|