Tax-Split Measure Is a Go for ’06 Ballot

An initiative that would give the Orange County Fire Authority a bigger share of county sales tax revenue has qualified for the 2006 ballot in what could shape up to be a nasty scrap between firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.

In 1993, state voters approved Proposition 172, a half-cent tax increase with the money earmarked for public safety.

Orange County, like most others, allocated the money for law enforcement. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department gets 80%, and the rest goes to the district attorney’s office. The Fire Authority has received nothing. Firefighters believe they deserve a portion of what they say is hundreds of millions of dollars that have come into Orange County coffers as a result of the proposition.

“The county’s action violates the public mandate to enhance fire protection services,” said Irvine Councilman Chris Mears, the city’s representative to the Fire Authority board. “It also violates the moral mandate of Proposition 172, which was passed on the backs of firefighters.”

Voters approved the proposition as firefighters battled wildfires in Malibu and Laguna Beach. Without voters thinking that some of the money would go toward fire protection, Mears said, “it’s the consensus that 172 would not have even passed.”

The Assn. of Orange County Professional Firefighters Local 3631 has proposed that the county share future tax revenue with the Fire Authority until its portion reached 10% of the total -- which could mean more than $20 million a year by 2011, if county budget projections hold true.

“If it does pass, deputies will have to be laid off,” said Wayne Quint, president of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs. “The district attorney will have to make difficult decisions on what cases he can and can’t prosecute.”

Sheriff Michael S. Carona will head a coalition opposed to the initiative, Quint said. “When Orange County taxpayers are told by both the sheriff and the D.A. that public safety will be negatively impacted, I think they’ll listen to that. I think they won’t listen to firefighters’ greed.”

The firefighters gathered about 113,000 voter signatures, but they could not be validated in time for the November election. County Registrar of Voters Steven Rodermund said the initiative will be placed on the ballot for the next regularly scheduled election, March 2006.

Rodermund said his office checked a 3% sample and determined that the firefighters had gathered more than the 64,041 needed to qualify.

Union officials said the Fire Authority plans to use the money to replace aging equipment and add more paramedics.

The union suggested a compromise with Orange County supervisors before submitting the signatures. It offered to drop the ballot measure if supervisors gave the Fire Authority 5% of sales tax revenue.

“We tried to negotiate with the county of Orange over the past half a dozen years. Each time it’s been rebuffed,” said Dave Thompson, director of the firefighters association.

“Finally, we had no choice but to go to the voters and ask them to reaffirm what their intention was,” Thompson said.

The Fire Authority serves more than 20 cities, including Irvine, Tustin, Seal Beach and Mission Viejo.