PREVIOUSLY:

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From the Fortuna Fire Protection District:

The Fortuna Fire Protection District is pleased to announce the proposed fire assessment has been passed by a majority of property owners within the district.

The assessment will provide an additional $400,000 a year to implement a comprehensive fire prevention program and to develop cost-effective staffing and training programs for volunteers. The new assessment establishes a not-to-exceed amount of $18 per unit of benefit, an increase from $3 per unit of benefit approved in 1997, and assigns units of benefit to property depending on its current land use and relative fire risk. This means the assessment for a typical single-family residence, which is assigned 4 units of benefit, will increase from $12.00 to $72.00 per year. The new assessment won’t go into effect until fiscal year 2016-17.

A combined notice of assessment and ballot was mailed to property owners on September 2nd. The ballot asked property owners to express their support or opposition to the proposed assessment. Ballots were weighted based on the annual assessment amounts for each property, with property owners owning more than one property receiving separate ballots for each property. A public hearing marking the end of the balloting period for the assessment was held on October 19th.

Ballot counting and tabulation was completed by the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County. For ballots to be considered valid, the property owner needed to mark “yes” or “no” and sign the ballot. The results will be certified by the District Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting on November 9th at the Fortuna Main Station at 7:00 p.m.

Weighted Ballot Results:

  • Total Number of Valid Ballots Cast: 2,014
  • Total Assessment Amount of Valid Ballots: $152,820
  • Total Number of Ballots Cast in Favor 1,131
  • Total Assessment Amount of “Yes” Votes: $85,050
  • Total Percentage of “Yes” Ballots, Weighted by Assessment Amount: 55.65%
  • Total Number of Ballots Cast Against 883
  • Total Assessment Amount of “No” Votes: $67,770
  • Total Percentage of “No” Ballots, Weighted by Assessment Amount: 44.35%
  • Total number of Invalid Ballots Received: 24