Fire tax supporters encourage voters to mail in their ballots

County elections officials are encouraging Windsor voters to
mail in their ballots early for the Sept. 16 special election to
increase the parcel tax that funds the Windsor Fire Protection
District.
The mail-in ballots must be received by the Sonoma County
Registrar of Voters no later than Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m.
Ballots can also be hand delivered to the Registrar of Voters
office at 435 Fiscal Drive in Santa Rosa. There will be no polling
places for the election.
Assistant Registrar of Voters Janice Atkinson said she
encourages voters to mail in their ballots at least a week ahead of
the deadline.
“I would give it at least a week,” said Atkinson. “I just know
that after election we get trays of mail that do not get delivered
in time.”
The mail-in ballots are postage paid with a business reply
indicia, which requires the ballots to be processed by the business
reply clerk in the Santa Rosa Post Office, said Atkinson. “I’m not
saying it will delay our mail, but it has the potential to do
that.”
Even with small, special elections, “we will get a significant
number of ballots that come in too late to be processed,” she
said.
Windsor-area voters are being asked to decide whether to
increase the special tax for the Windsor Fire Protection District
from the annual $67.50 per parcel tax (for a single family home) to
$168. The measure requires a two-thirds majority for approval.
Fire officials say the increase is needed for the district to
keep pace with the large increase in calls for service and a
resulting increase in response times to emergency calls. Another
result of the increase in calls, say fire officials, is a sharp
rise in so-called “call stacking,” when there are overlapping calls
for service and not enough firefighters to respond to them all.
The district utilizes a volunteer staff to supplement the paid
staff, but the volunteers are not available at all times.
The district has not had an increase in its parcel tax since it
was formed in 1986.
A new station is planned for the west side of town, near Windsor
High School. The district hopes to add full-time firefighters to
staff the new station.
Tom Thielman is the chair of the Friends of Windsor Fire, the
organization that has raised funds to support the tax measure. He
said a relatively low voter turnout is expected, and he is also
encouraging voters to mail their ballots early.
“The fact of the matter is that Windsor is outgrowing the size
of the department,” said Thielman. “I’m a businessman and I’ve been
involved in the community for going on 12 years. I’ve seen the town
grow and I’ve seen the need for change. With the high school being
on the west side of town, response time is critical.”
Friends of Windsor Fire has held several successful fundraisers,
which will pay for mailers being sent to voters. The mail pieces
are a “reminder for people to vote and a restatement of the
issues,” said Thielman.
The special fire tax increase has been endorsed by the Windsor
Town Council and the Windsor Chamber of Commerce. There has not
been any organized opposition and there was not a ballot argument
filed against the measure.
“Let’s face it, it’s a matter of life and death in some cases,”
said Thielman. “I’m a homeowner and a taxpayer and I don’t like to
see the taxes go up any more than anybody else. But I like even
less the opposite side of that.”