Capay Valley Fire Protection District

You are a property owner served by the Capay Valley Fire Protection District (“Capay Valley Fire” or the “Fire District”). You are being asked to vote on a proposed funding measure to ensure continued and improved fire protection and emergency response services in your area. Your ballot is your opportunity to participate in deciding whether local funding should be approved for continued and improved fire protection, fire suppression, and emergency response services.

Your vote on this matter is crucial because only returned ballots will be counted.

Capay Valley Fire was originally formed in 1927 and provides fire protection, fire prevention and emergency response services to the communities of Brooks, Guinda and Rumsey, and the surrounding unincorporated areas in the northwest corner of Yolo County. Capay Valley Fire covers approximately 700 square miles and serves a population 1,250.

Capay Valley Fire responds to over 150 service calls per year, including structure fires, brush fires, vegetation fires, vehicle fires, traffic collisions, search and rescues, hazardous materials incidents and emergency medical calls. In addition, Capay Valley Fire provides fire prevention, community education, emergency preparedness and other services relating to the protection of lives and property. Capay Valley Fire is governed by a five-member Board of Fire Commissioners that are appointed by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

The Fire Protection and Emergency Response Services Measure Will

·  Improve emergency response times and provide consistent fire station staffing, 7 days a week, 9-5. Many people don’t realize that 80% of our volunteers are commuters.

·  Replace outdated firefighting equipment, funds would be used to assist with replacement of old and outdated fire apparatus and equipment that is not up to current standards.

·  Train our local firefighters, so we are always ready to rapidly respond to emergencies.

·  This funding stays LOCAL and cannot be taken away by the County or State.

Capay Valley Fire is funded through a small portion of local property taxes. Due to the lack of funding, rising expenses and a growing wildfire risk to the community, the Fire District’s current revenue is not adequate to continue providing services at what is considered a safe level for the community.

Capay Valley Fire is currently staffed with 17 volunteer firefighters and one paid part-time firefighter three days a week. Compared to years past, more residents are commuting to work in town for higher wages, and those who remain in the valley farming during the day are working longer hours with more responsibilities and less income. This trend combined with increased training demands required by the State and an increase in call volume, result in fewer volunteers available to respond to emergencies. On a typical workday Capay Valley Fire has three volunteers in the District ready to respond to emergencies, but everyday tasks such as childcare, medical appointments, or trips to town for supplies can leave an insufficient number of personnel to effectively fight a fire. The proposed assessment will provide funding for one additional full-time firefighter during daytime work hours, which will give current volunteer staff the flexibility to go to the hardware store without compromising the safety of the valley. The District’s goal is to reliably staff three people on an engine at all times.

The condition of our equipment is also of concern. Rising costs for fire apparatus mean that almost ¾ of the annual budget is required to replace engines as they age out of service – generally every 25 years. Not only would the assessment fund the replacement of fire engines as they become old, worn, and unsafe, but paid staff would be responsible for day-to-day maintenance of this equipment ensuring not only that it functions properly when deployed on a fire, but also extending its useful life. Sending volunteers out to a fire with leaky pumps, bald tires, and worn-out hoses is not ideal.

Though equipment and personnel are the major needs of the District, the assessment includes a small amount of additional revenue to be budgeted toward improved training for the volunteers, and repairs to fire stations. It also includes funding to support CVERA volunteers as they perform education and outreach to the community on defensible space, fire safety, and emergency preparedness.

The District is lucky to have other agencies nearby, but they are not required to provide assistance. Cal Fire is only required to respond for wildland fires, and they are only in residence during fire season. Yocha Dehe is only required to respond to incidents on Tribal land. The safety of our community rests in the hands of the volunteers and this assessment would provide them with supplemental staffing, safer equipment and training.

Funding from this measure would help Capay Valley Fire improve response to emergency calls. When Volunteers are notified of an emergency, they rush to the station, change into their gear, and roll the engine out of the barn. If the engine doesn’t have sufficient staffing, they wait for more personnel to arrive. Having a firefighter on site when the call goes out means that the engine is running and ready to leave as soon as a volunteer arrives. State safety standards require that when firefighters go into a burning building, a minimum of 2 firefighters work as a team inside the impacted structure. A minimum of 2 firefighters must be on standby as support outside the structure to provide aid or perform a rescue. Essentially, the “2 in, 2 out rule” protects our firefighters but requires sufficient staffing levels. Funding from this measure would increase staffing within the Fire District, allowing firefighters to arrive and assemble on scene faster, effectively reducing the impact of the emergency.

With additional funding the Fire District would hire one full-time firefighter to respond to emergencies with the volunteers.

This measure would support improved maintenance, repair, upgrade, and/or replacement of outdated fire apparatus and equipment that are not up to current safety standards. Additionally, funds would maintain and improve the Brooks, Guinda, and Rumsey fire stations.

Part of our community’s greatest threat is wildfires. The Fire District needs to increase it preparedness to protect properties in the wildland urban interface.

Yolo County is not required to provide the Capay Valley with a fire department – the only requirement is that the Board of Supervisors appoint a Fire Marshal for the area. Although the Capay Valley Fire District is a dependent Special District, the County of Yolo is not obligated to provide it with any funding. However, on April 18, 2023 the Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a Fire Sustainability Funding Proposal to provide matching funds to local Fire Districts that need more revenue, if they pass a new benefit assessment. If this ballot measure passes, Yolo County will provide $120,000 in matching funds annually to Capay Valley Fire on an ongoing basis. This unprecedented commitment by Yolo County would allow Capay Valley Fire a significant improvement in level of service than the benefit assessment alone. It is essentially the difference between being able to hire a full-time firefighter and afford new equipment, or having to choose between the two.

The total annual costs of the proposed additional firefighter staffing, apparatus and equipment replacements as needed, and other services to be funded by the assessment would be allocated to each property based on the estimated special benefit received. The method of benefit allocation is based on the relative special benefit to a property in relation to a single-family home, the type of property, and its size. The total proposed assessment amount for your property is shown on your Official Ballot. If you own multiple properties, your ballot will show the total proposed assessment amount for each one.

The types of special benefits would primarily include increased safety and protection of real properties. An Engineer’s Report describing the proposed improvements, method and basis upon which the amount of the proposed assessment was calculated, special benefits, budget, and the proposed assessment for each parcel is available for review at the Capay Valley Fire Protection District, 7447 State Highway 16, Guinda CA 95637 and on the District’s website ( https://capayvalleyfire.org ).

The proposed assessment for your property or properties for 2023-24 is printed on your Official Ballot. The typical base annual assessment for single-family homes is proposed to be $118.22. (The annual assessment amount a property is proposed to pay would be that property’s base rate adjusted by factors like relative fire risk and travel time.) The proposed base assessment for other residential property types is calculated based on these factors and the number of dwelling units and parcel size. Multi-family dwellings have a proposed base assessment of $49.05 per unit. Agricultural, commercial, industrial, and other properties are assessed according to their parcel size and type. For example, agricultural property would be assessed at $3.00 per acre of property size. The total estimated amount assessed to the entire area subject to this assessment would be approximately $131,514 for 2023-24. For more information refer to the Engineer’s Report which is available for review at the Capay Valley Fire Protection District, 7447 State Highway 16, Guinda CA 95637 and on the District’s website ( https://capayvalleyfire.org ).

In years after 2023-24, the maximum allowed assessment rate may only be adjusted for inflation by an amount equal to the change in the Northern California (San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward) Consumer Price Index, but not to exceed 5% per year. The actual assessment rate will not be raised automatically. Any proposed annual adjustment, along with the engineer's report and the proposed budget, will be reviewed and approved annually by the District Board at a public meeting. Any annual inflation adjustment, if approved, will help keep the assessment revenues in line with the cost of providing fire protection and emergency response services.

To complete the enclosed official ballot, mark the oval next to either Yes or No, sign the ballot, fold it in half and place it in the provided postage-paid return envelope, and mail it to Capay Valley Fire Protection District, PO Box 6, Brooks CA 95606. You may also hand deliver it at the public hearing. Only official ballots which are signed and marked with the property owner’s support or opposition will be counted. Ballots must be received prior to the end of the public input portion of the Public Hearing scheduled on Monday August 14, 2023. The meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. If you lose your ballot, require a replacement ballot, or want to change your vote before the close of the public hearing, call Capay Valley Fire at (530) 796-3300 for another ballot.

A public hearing will be held on Monday, August 14, 2023, at 6:30 pm at the Capay Valley Fire Protection District located at, 7447 State Highway 16, Guinda CA 95637. The public is encouraged to attend. Tabulation of the returned ballots will commence after the close of the public input portion of the public hearing. The results of the tabulation are expected to be announced at the Board meeting that night.

The assessment can be continued in future years as long as the District Board approves an annual resolution to continue this assessment. The Board also has the authority to end the assessment in the future, not levy the assessment or levy a lower assessment rate as needed.