Fire and ambulance services in Chester will remain at a bare minimum following the failure of two ballot measures designed to generate as much as $2 million annually to fund the financially ailing Chester Public Utility District.
Measure B, which asked voters to approve an annual tax of $450 per parcel to fund a volunteer Chester fire department, received 249 yes votes to 270 no votes.
Measure C asked for approval of an annual tax of $1,500 per parcel to fund a full-service, full-time professionally staffed fire department. Voters rejected it by a vote of 141-371, according to unofficial results provided by the Plumas County Elections Office. Both measures required two-thirds approval to pass.
“The community has spoken.”
Kim Green, Chester Public Utility District chair
Of the 1,384 ballots sent to voters, 513 were returned in the May 7 special election, resulting in a return rate of less than 38%, the elections office reported.
“The community has spoken,” said CPUD Chairwoman Kim Green. Although the election results did not surprise her, she said the turnout was “heartbreaking.”
“We did our best in the last two years to correct past practices but it was not enough,” Green told The Plumas Sun.
Dramatic reduction in services
Without the infusion of funds either one of the ballot measures would have provided, the CPUD is now forced to all but eliminate ambulance and fire services. The district can no longer transport patients with medical emergencies. Emergency medical technicians can respond and stabilize victims but not provide transportation, Green said.
The fire department is now “very limited,” consisting of a part-time paid fire chief and a lieutenant who works 76 hours a week, she said. They are training volunteers to qualify to respond to fires.
“Our goal is an all-volunteer fire department and we are actively recruiting volunteers,” said Green.
The Chester Fire Department is operating at a $2 million deficit. For the last decade that deficit has been $1.2 million, according to Adam Cox, CPUD general manager. He and Green blamed the shortfall on the practices of previous district directors, who relied on income from providing wildland firefighting services to balance the budget. Those services have not been needed in the last two years, leaving the fire district with a financial gap, Green said.
To fill it the district has borrowed from the sanitation department. That loan has to be repaid, said Green. A fully volunteer fire department needs a minimum of $600,000 to operate; it receives $330,000 in tax and related revenues. Insurance alone costs $104,000 annually, she said.
Recall election is pending
Looming over the financially crippled fire district is a recall election, which could be held later this year. In January, critics of the current CPUD board served Green and three other directors with recall notices. They turned in signatures April 23 on petitions they have been circulating since February.
The county elections office has until May 23 to verify the signatures and determine if there are enough to qualify for a special election, said Marcy DeMartile, Plumas County clerk and elections official.
Annika Peacock and other members of the ad hoc Citizens Advisory Committee targeted Green and CPUD Directors Steve Voboril, Arthur Tharpe and Steve Graffweg for recall. The charges vary slightly but in general allege “gross mismanagement” and failure to provide first-responder services to the community of Chester. In their responses the four district board members generally denied mismanagement and cited the May 7 election as a way for the public to decide what the fire department will look like in the future.
Peacock told The Plumas Sun she is confident the recall proponents have gathered more than the 346 valid signatures per director required to qualify for a recall election. DeMartile declined to estimate the costs of a special recall election but said they would be borne by the district.
This story was edited to correct the annual cost of insurance for the Chester Fire Department. The Plumas Sun regrets the error.
