Voters to Decide Future of Fire Department
La Habra Heights is preparing to vote on a measure that would continue property tax funding for its Fire Department.
Owners of property in the city will be asked July 15 whether they want to keep paying an average of $350 a year to maintain a crew of only three full-time workers. The department relies primarily on a pool of 140 firefighters who work in La Habra Heights on their days off from other departments in the area.
City Manager Les Doolittle said the city was forced to hold an election after the department’s budget of $750,000 was dissolved by last year’s Prop. 218, which requires local governments to have voter approval on certain taxes.
Doolittle said the wooded city has an average of only about 10 fires a year, but that the department responds to a greater number of medical emergencies.
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