How Valley Center won the Board of Supervisors vote

November 12, 2024

Courtesy of The Valley Roadrunner

This is the story of how Valley Center won the Board of Supervisors vote—shepherded by 5th District Supervisor Jim Desmond— that will up our fire district’s allocation of property taxes from 2% of the 1% that is currently collected to 6% of the 1%. All without local residents’ taxes going up.

It’s a pretty long story, so maybe you should sit down.

Neighboring Deer Springs Fire Protection District will get the same, and Pauma Valley will get a slice of the funding cake to help fund ambulance and paramedic services.

For once, it’s a story about giving credit to people for working for the good of the community. Of both Democrats and Republicans in Valley Center standing together two years ago—along with other organizations and service clubs—on the stage of the Maxine Theater and pledging to unite their efforts.

Through Desmond’s proposal, the board secured permanent tax allocations and yearly funding for the Deer Springs and Valley Center Fire Protection Districts.

Here’s the breakdown.

The County will allocate an additional $1.5 million annually to the Valley Center Fire Protection District.

Deer Springs will receive an additional $1.2 million annually to further bolster fire protection.

The San Diego County Fire Protection District will receive $3.5 million annually to strengthen its capabilities along the southern border.

This board action also provides critical funding for a paramedic and paramedic squad in Pauma Valley and Otay Mesa.

The additional funding was the idea of Valley Center Fire Chief Joe Napier, who has been on the job for about 10 years. During that time his mind has been percolating on how to make the fire department work for the residents of Valley Center.

“This journey begin in 2019, before the pandemic of 2020,” Napier told The Roadrunner. “We along—with Deer Springs—came to realize that we were the last two special fire districts in San Diego County to be still under the 2% of the 1% tax formulary.” Note: the fire district formed in the early 1980s after Proposition 13, which locked in previous property tax allocations.

“The previous districts had either consolidated with the County Fire District and had their taxes shifted to 6 percent of the one percent or they consolidated multiple special districts into a single fire protection district in 1988. Rancho Santa Fe merged with Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove in 2016, giving that combined district a 6.57% tax allocation,” said Napier.

Napier continued, “After two failed tax measures in our own community, it became apparent to me that there had to be another way to take existing taxes that our community was paying and the County was receiving and reapportion that to the new low bar of 6 percent of the 1 percent and not increase anybody’s property taxes within our own community.”

The district board had heard the community’s feelings about new taxes “loud and clear” after each tax initiative failed. “The community,” said Napier, “felt they were paying enough in property tax to have the County pay for the services that the County was providing and for the special districts to run their services with the current tax apportionment.”

Napier added, “It became our job as the district and the fire chief to determine a course of action to tap into those property taxes that were being sent to the County—while not stealing from any special district, special programs, or other public safety entity.”

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch and that money will have to come from somewhere. The source is the General Purpose accounts of the County, which is part of the discretionary budget.

“We believe that the amount that’s going to come as a result of this regional action will be a small amount compared to the available funding that the County has in the overall budget of $8.53 billion,” said Napier. “While this seems like a small amount in comparison to that large budget it’s still equates in total to $6 million that is going to be applied to public safety; $1.5 million that will come directly to Valley Center.”

The immediate effect will allow the fire department to staff Station 3 and complete deferred maintenance projects; provide better wages and benefits to Valley Center’s young firefighters and improve the overall working conditions for those firefighters.”

The addition of Station 3, said Napier, will improve response times. “And provide better availability to fire insurance in the underserved area in and around Fire Station 3.” That’s about a thousand rooftops, or an estimated 3,000 people who will get improved fire service.

It has also been calculated that community members in total will save over $200,000 in insurance costs, “with a significant number of households coming over from the California Fair Plan and moving to a more equitable plans,” said Napier.

Getting back to our origin story. Once the district realized that there was a potential available source, it contacted District 5 and met with Desmond on how to move forward. This was in 2019 and Desmond had recently taken office.

“Desmond and his team started with the board of directors and me on a path forward that included no opposition from the other district board supervisors or any other fire agencies within the County,” recalls Napier. The five year delay from idea to execution was for getting as many people in alignment as possible.

There followed many meetings with allied fire agencies, with the County and within the Valley Center community. “We were successful in gaining the support of everyone so that Supervisor Desmond could feel confident in bringing this initiative to the Board of Supervisors for a feasibility study in August and then a vote,” said the chief.

The tax funding element will go into effect fiscal year 2026 with the first property tax apportionment in December of 2025 and the second large apportionment in April 2026, as the property tax elements hit fire district books.

To prepare for this new funding source, the district and County will have to work to update the various tax areas in Valley Center. The fire district will have to create a resolution “to accept” the new funding sources and create a budget that reflects them. To accomplish this there will be a public hearing next spring.

During this interview Napier took the opportunity to thank all the people and organizations who helped move this multi-year project forward, “and heal wounds that will be of immeasurable benefit to the community and surrounding communities. It is clear that the Valley Center Fire Protection District could not have done it without the following organizations”

Jim Desmond and the entire District 5 Team
Assembly Member Marie Waldron and 75th District
Phil Bell and The Valley Center Fire Protection District Board of Directors
Chris Palmer and California Special Districts Association
The Deer Springs Fire Protection District Board of Directors
North County Fire Protection District Board of Directors
Fire Chief Tony Mecham and The San Diego County Fire Protection District
Dee Chavez Harmes and The Valley Center Planning Group
The Valley Center Firefighters Association Local 5187
Cal Fire Local 2881
North County Firefighters Local
Vista Firefighters Local
The Valley Roadrunner
Bo Mazetti and the Rincon Tribal Council
Steven Cope and the San Pasqual Tribal Council
The Valley Center GOP Committee
The Valley Center Democratic Club
Dori Rattray and Protect Valley Center
Ron McGowen and the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District Board of Directors
Gary Arant and the Valley Center Municipal Water District Board of Directors
The Valley Center Business Association
The Valley Center Chamber of Commerce
Jim Bernet and The Valley Center Fire Department Foundation
Everyone who came out to speak or write letters of support on behalf of Valley Center Fire and testify before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors

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