Measure T – Zayante Fire parcel tax
Voters in Zayante Fire Protection District will consider a parcel tax hike in the Nov. 5 election with Measure T. The district covers parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Lorenzo Valley, including Zayante, Lompico and parts of unincorporated Santa Clara County.
The measure requires at least two-thirds voter approval.
Jump to a section:
- What is Measure T?
- Who will vote on Measure T?
- Measure T ballot text
- What does a “yes” vote mean on Measure T?
- What does a “no” vote mean on Measure T?
- Things to consider about Measure T
- Arguments in favor of Measure T
- Arguments against Measure T
- More information about Measure T
- Other races and measures in the Santa Cruz Mountains
What is Measure T?
Measure T is an annual parcel tax of:
- $290 for homes, businesses or land with other structures.
- $100 for vacant lots 5 acres or larger.
- $50 for vacant lots smaller than 5 acres.
The new tax would be increased about 2% annually. The Measure T parcel tax would replace an existing $75 parcel tax approved in 2016.
Money from Measure T could be used for pay or vehicles. It would pay for daytime firefighters, fire engine drivers, fire engines or other vehicles, according to the ballot measure and the county counsel’s impartial analysis. The tax would start July 2025.
Who will vote on Measure T?
Residents in the Zayante Fire Protection District will vote on Measure T.
Measure T ballot text
To maintain a reliable daytime response and replace emergency vehicles, Shall a new Zayante Fire Protection District special tax of $50.00 for vacant parcels less than 5 acres, $100.00 for vacant parcels 5 acres or more; and $290.00 for residential, commercial, other improved parcels be adopted replacing its existing $68 per parcel tax, with an annual increase not to exceed CPI, initially raising an estimated $440,000 annually until rescinded or replaced by voters?
What does a “yes” vote mean?
A “yes” vote would replace an annual $75 parcel tax with a new tax from $50 to $290, depending on the property size and buildings on the land.
What does a “no” vote mean?
A “no” vote would not approve a higher parcel tax, and would keep the existing $75 parcel tax.
Things to consider about Measure T
Zayante Fire serves about 5,500 people across 15 square miles in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
- It is a special district governed by a board of directors, and is separate from Santa Cruz County government.
- It has 25 volunteer firefighters, but it has long depended on paid, daytime firefighters and fire engine drivers to respond when volunteers are at their day jobs.
- In 2021, Zayante Fire had three fire protection staff at the station daily. Now, it has a fire engine driver and a firefighter on “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, just a driver on Wednesday, nobody on Saturdays and Sundays,” said Zayante Fire Chief Jeff Maxwell, who is one of the firefighters. No Zayante Fire employees earn pensions or benefits.
- Critics of Measure T said it won’t solve the larger problem in the San Lorenzo Valley — that fire departments in rural areas with small populations aren’t financially sustainable.
Last year, Zayante Fire brought in $745,000, mostly from property taxes within its district. Because of Proposition 13, a 1978 state law that restricts the growth and reallocation of property tax, district revenues from property tax usually grow less than 2% annually, Maxwell said.
Like many small fire districts, Zayante Fire has long supplemented property tax revenue with annual parcel taxes. Voters last raised the parcel tax to $68 in 2016. It has increased annually and is now $75. The increase hasn’t kept pace with inflation. The buying power of $75 in 2024 is equivalent to the buying power of $56 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
In the fiscal year that ended in July, the existing $68 parcel tax raised about $147,000. Measure T would raise an estimated $440,000 annually.
Parcel tax money must be deposited into a separate account, and the board or district staff must prepare an annual report on the tax income and expenditures.
The new parcel tax can only be used for paid daytime staff and emergency response vehicles, according to an impartial analysis by Santa Cruz County Counsel Jason Heath.
Measure T does not exempt seniors or people with disabilities from paying the parcel tax.
Arguments in favor of Measure T
Zayante Fire needs more money for paid staff to respond to daytime calls, Maxwell said.
In 2021, Zayante Fire had three paid staff at the station daily. Now, it has a fire engine driver and a firefighter on “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, just a driver on Wednesday, nobody on Saturdays and Sundays,” Maxwell said. “Schedule your emergency carefully,” he said.
Zayante Fire is also still paying off a wildland fire engine it bought in 2022. Other vehicles need to be replaced. “We have to get back on track, or we’re going to have a fire department with no people and no fire trucks,” he said.
The Measure T bond measure could sustain Zayante Fire for about a decade, board members have said. “We don’t think, honestly, that this parcel tax is like the answer to everything,” Maxwell said. “We will be back in the future. The question is, how far in the future can we make this last?”
Arguments against Measure T
Lompico resident Jennifer Gómez said Measure T avoids the larger problem in the San Lorenzo Valley — that fire departments in rural areas with small populations aren’t financially sustainable. Fire protection districts in Zayante, Ben Lomond, Felton and Boulder Creek should consider reorganizing or combining their districts, she said.
“We’re going to either need to consolidate or we’re all going to end up paying more, and there’s going to be more and more [tax] measures, it’s going to become more costly, and we’re going to be getting less services,” Gómez said.
In 2023, money problems led Branciforte Fire Protection District to be annexed by Scotts Valley Protection District.
Gómez also said “it’s a big red flag” that the financial analysis the department used to show the need for a new tax was prepared by district board member Kristi Locatelli, not by an outside consultant. “I think it was really kind of a conflict of interest,” she said. Maxwell said the financial analysis was simple enough that it did not require a consultant, which could have been costly.
Even without financial problems, the department would struggle to respond to fires because of overgrown vegetation and poorly maintained roads, Gómez wrote in a ballot argument. The community should focus on funding “fuel breaks, controlled burns and other fuel management projects, escape routes, and private road repair and maintenance to prepare in advance of another catastrophic wind-driven wildfire,” she wrote. The measure “does not address the overarching threat to our community.”
Maxwell said a consolidated San Lorenzo Valley fire district would not necessarily be more financially sustainable, and it could deprioritize service to Zayante and Lompico in favor of more populated areas such as Felton and Ben Lomond.
The Zayante district is “nine miles from end to end, and time matters,” Maxwell said. “Our three stations provide great service. We’re the only ones in the valley that actually put substations into communities where the population concentrations are and reduce response times.”
Maxwell said he also remained skeptical about a potential large fire district in unincorporated county areas, in part because it would require an agreement with CalFire. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions,” he said.
More information about Measure T
More Santa Cruz Mountains elections
—Jesse Kathan