SPECIAL FIRE ASSESSMENT DISTRICT BALLOT MEASURE (due by June 30)

By now, some of you will have received an unusual ballot in the mail. Not the ballot for the upcoming June 2 election, but specifically about establishing a fire assessment district for the coastal high fire hazard areas in the City of Santa Barbara.

Coastal areas that were once considered safe from wildfire no longer are. In the last few years, several of those areas have been rezoned as high fire areas. The above map shows those areas.

The purpose of the ballot measure is to raise money for the city to do additional fire risk reduction in those areas. If the measure passes,

property owners in those areas will be assessed between $101 - $125 annually to pay for fuel load reduction and other fire prevention activities. The money will go directly to that fund and may only be used to help the households covered by the ballot measure.

If approved, the SBFD will use the funds raised by the tax assessment to address fire risk in the zones highlighted in the above map. Residents will also have access to home assessments and other tailored advice about home hardening and defensible space.

Ballots must be in by June 30, although they may be delivered on that day at a special meeting to determine whether or not to establish this fire assessment district. Properties included in this assessment district should have received their special ballot by now. If you have not, and

Would like one, please contact Lee Heller:  leehellerk9@gmail.com.