Lafayette City Council Discusses ConFire Parcel Tax, Looks For Long Term Solution

President of the United Professional Firefighters of Contra Costa County, Vince Wells, spoke to the Lafayette city council Monday night about the importance of passing the

If passed, the measure would mean Contra Costa County residents would pay an extra $75 a year, in order to defray costs of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.

Wells called on the council to unanimously support the measure, and explained that if it did not pass, ConFire could potentially be forced to close 7 to 9 of its stations. Ultimately the city council did not make a definitive decision regarding their support for the tax, and the issue will be continued to the next city council meeting.

Wells also said that he understood that a lot of people thought that voting the tax down would be making a statement about the issue of funding for ConFire. However, he argued that voting no on the tax would not mean an immediate solution would be found, rather, the communities would suffer.

“The community needs to understand that when you vote the tax down, we’re losing fire protection,” Wells said. 

The Contra Costa Fire Protection District currently covers 9 cities, including Lafayette. According to Wells, Lafayette has 9 firefighters each day, 3 covering each station in Lafayette. He also added that for every structure fire, 5 vehicles are sent to the scene.  

Supervisor Candace Andersen, who was also at the meeting, said she did not support the measure and said she would not support it until a way could be found to make the district sustainable beyond the parcel tax.

City council members said that they were looking for options for a more sustainable solution to the current budget issue, and vice mayor Mike Anderson said he would like to see an effort to move toward a model that can operate on the amount of funding currently available for ConFire.

Resident Matt Heavey spoke against the tax and said he was concerned about the issue of “out of control” pensions, a subject that Supervisor Andersen also touched on.

“I don’t think it’s fair that the citizens of this community should have to decide between funding a pension plan that’s out of control, and that can’t be brought under control, and reduced services,” Heavey said.

Council members concluded that they would like more information brought back to them at the next city council meeting before they could come out in support for the tax measure.