Ripon tax measure could bring firefighters to an empty station

RIPON — The Ripon Consolidated Fire District has introduced a new tax measure that property owners can vote on this summer that would help staff an empty fire station.

This monthly parcel tax increase would allow the district to staff an empty station on the city's north side. But it's not the only fire department closely monitoring this tax measure.

Manteca and Ripon share an automatic aid agreement, meaning whoever is closest to an emergency situation would respond or when one city has too many emergency calls to handle, the another would intervene.

Firefighters say that could change, however.

The Ripon Fire District has one fire engine, one ambulance and one station to cover 55 square miles.

“The fire district has been very frugal with its money,” Fire Chief Eric DeHart said.

Chief DeHart said firefighters did what they could with what they got, but they need help. The district has introduced a new parcel tax for landowners in its catchment area.

The new monthly tax increase could range from $21 for single-family homes and up to $16,000 per year for apartment complexes with more than 100 units.

“If it's a vacant lot with nothing on it, that's one price. If it's a lot with a house on it, that's another price,” Chief DeHart said .

That parcel tax was increased to $75 a month in 1985, but DeHart said it hasn't been changed since.

“If you can imagine, if you owned a grocery store and you sold your products on the shelf at 1985 prices, you wouldn't be in business very long,” DeHart said.

What was supposed to be the district's second fire station is on Ripon Road and has had its garage doors closed and the fire truck inside unused since 2014, when it was established.

DeHart said it will stay that way unless something changes.

“The revenue streams we currently operate with are not sufficient to maintain the same level of service we have today, as well as to meet the rising costs and challenges we will face in the future” , DeHart said.

Manteca Fire Chief David Marks said he's seen the Ripon Fire District spread thin and most of the time with the automatic aid agreement, it's Manteca who's going to help Ripon.

“This automatic aid agreement is no longer working the way we wanted it to,” Marks said. “It’s a bit one-sided.”

Today, the Manteca City Council is closely monitoring the parcel tax in Ripon because if staffing does not change in Ripon, Manteca could be stretched even further in the city, leading to a potentially lopsided deal.

“Nothing is off the table at this time, but we are evaluating a solution,” Manteca Mayor Gary Singh said. “At the same time, this should not impact our department to the point where we can no longer care for our residents.”

One thing to note about the parcel tax measure: For every dollar your tax increases, that's a vote for your household. So if your tax increases by $250 per year, that means you have 250 votes on the tax measure.

If you live in the district's response area, you will receive your new corrected version of the ballot in approximately two weeks.