Wednesday, Jul 13 2011 1:23PM
The state of California is asking some rural residents to pay an extra fee for wildfire prevention.
A new bill signed by California Governor Jerry Brown would levy a yearly fee of up to $150 on rural homeowners in some areas of the state to pay for wildfire prevention efforts.
The new fee will affect people living in "state responsibility areas" who call on the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to stop wildfires before they endanger residential areas in rural communities, many of whom already receive
housing assistance.
The Associated Press reports the new fee is expected to generate $200 million annually for the state. However, many officials say the fee is unfair and plan to challenge it.
"With this fee, residents aren’t getting any more fire protection than they already have. So a property owner that's already covered by the state and a local fire protection district will simply be paying another fee for the same level of protection," Catherine Smith, executive director of the Fire Districts Association of California, told Capitol Weekly.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says CalFire responded to more than 4,000 wildfires in state responsibility areas last year, and regularly exceeds its budget.
Last month, the Regional Council of Rural Counties wrote a letter to the governor asking him to veto the bill, saying the fees were unfair to rural residents and would, in effect, tax some rural residents twice.