Groveland fire tax hearing set

The Groveland Community Services District will hold a public hearing next month on a proposed tax to help fund the Groveland Fire Department.   

The district Board of Directors voted 4-1 on Thursday to set the hearing for 6 p.m. March 1 at Tenaya Elementary School in Groveland. District residents will have the opportunity at the hearing to voice their opinions on the latest version of a special fire tax that would contribute $400,000 to supplement the department’s annual budget.

The board opted to pursue a parcel tax under which improved properties would be taxed $107 annually and owners of unimproved properties would pay $53. The proposed tax could include a $3 annual increase per parcel for cost of living and would sunset in 10 years, according to a draft of the proposal distributed at the meeting.    

GCSD General Manager Gary Mello said the district will need to raise less money than he anticipated last month, when it looked like the district would receive a smaller-than-expected annual amount of property taxes.    

When Mello presented the tax proposal to the district board in January, he said the district would need to raise $530,000 annually to supplement the department’s $1.2 million budget, up from the original estimate of $400,000. But Mello said on Thursday the lower projection in property tax revenue was due to an error at the Tuolumne County auditor’s office.    

“The projection for the year is basically right at what we were told in July,” Mello said.    

District voters will decide in June whether to implement the tax, which would replace a 10-year special fire assessment set to end this summer. The ballot measure will require a two-thirds majority to pass.    

During the meeting, multiple community members said they would like to see the district board change the tax proposal to lower the burden on taxpayers. Suggestions included the fire department billing for some services like medical and service calls, removing the cost-of-living increase and implementing a shorter sunset period of five years.    

District residents Kay Crow and Craig Maxwell also said they want to see the district stop using approximately $100,000 annually from the district parks budget to cover fire department costs, as has been a practice in recent years. The current fire assessment raises about $300,000 annually.    

Maxwell told directors that local taxpayers who are already stretched thin might be more willing to vote on a new tax if they see efforts by the department to look closely at cost-saving measures.    

“Property values are sinking. People are losing their homes,” he said. “We’re getting hit very heavily.”    

Director Steve Perreira voted against setting the March hearing. Perreira instead proposed raising $300,000 annually by charging $85 for improved properties, $20 for unimproved land, and capping cost-of-living increases at three percent. The motion died without a second from the board.    

Perreira said he doesn’t believe the tax will have the public support needed for voter approval.    

“We need to focus on cost savings,” he said.   

In other action:    

The meeting became heated during an update by Mello on a sewage spill that occurred near Pine Mountain Lake on Jan 18.       

Mello reiterated reports that the “less-than-100-gallon” spill was likely due to a grease clog from the Pine Mountain Lake clubhouse, where he said there was “excessive grease” in the kitchen grease trap.    

And while traces of fecal matter and other biological contaminants came up in testing of the creek near the spill, Mello said he’s still not convinced the results are not due to various animals leaving waste nearby.    

“There’s fecal matter in every single stream in California,” Mello said.    

The discussion got contentious when Perreira pressed Mello on where district staff conducted tests, asking if positive results were found both upstream and downstream. Mello said he wasn’t going to “answer 100 questions,” and said results of district testing will be included in a report to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

“When (the report is) final, it will be a public record,” Mello said, later adding that Perreira’s question “isn’t even valid.” 

Back-and-forth between Perreira, Mello and others at the meeting and on the board escalated in intensity, leading board President Roy Conley to slam his gavel on the table repeatedly.    

“All of you, just stop,” Conley said. “I’m not going to have this type of childish behavior at my meetings.”