Union to Step Up Funds Fight

The union representing Orange County firefighters plans to submit signatures the week of July 19 for a ballot initiative asking voters to give fire services a portion of sales taxes now directed solely to law enforcement.

The Assn. of Orange County Professional Firefighters Local 3631 has until September -- when a 180-day deadline expires -- to submit the signatures to the registrar of voters for verification. If the measure qualifies, it would be placed on the next scheduled ballot -- which, because of the time needed to verify signatures, would be March 2006.

The measure would redistribute a portion of state sales taxes that has been collected for law enforcement since 1993, when voters extended a temporary half-cent tax that was due to expire. The extension passed amid official pleas for voters to provide more money for firefighters as wildfires burned through Laguna Beach and Malibu. Most counties later opted to give all the money to law enforcement.

The union proposal would require the Board of Supervisors to share future tax revenue with the Orange County Fire Authority until its portion reached 10% of the total. The money currently is split between the Sheriff’s Department, which gets 80%, and the district attorney’s office.

The union dropped its hopes of qualifying the measure for the November election to take more time for fundraising and to avoid a crowded ballot, which will feature at least 14 other state measures, union vice president Dan Young said Tuesday. “Waiting until 2006 is fine because it gives us 18 months to build our coffers back up. We know this will be an expensive campaign.”

The initiative needs about 67,000 signatures to qualify; about 110,000 have been collected, Young said, at a cost of about $150,000.

It is still possible the issue could be resolved without a ballot measure. Young said he sent a package of financial information, including a compromise offer that would give the fire agency 5% of future funding, to supervisors Friday. Their next meeting is scheduled for July 20.

Firefighters say the money is needed to keep the Fire Authority afloat when costs are expected to overrun revenues in the next six years. About 65% of the authority’s budget comes from a portion of property taxes that is not expected to keep pace with needs, Young said.

Opponents of the proposal say law enforcement is more vulnerable to budget cutting because it relies solely on the sales tax money and on general county funds.