16 May LAFCO is No Laughing Matter
The Red Brennan Group Takes Action Against LAFCO
An FP-5 Awareness Installment
Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far, shall we?
Remind me Who LAFCO is Again…?
LAFCO is a state-mandated Local Agency Formation Commission – a relatively little-known committee created by California Law to oversee the boundaries of cities and special districts and to evaluate delivery of the services that special districts provide. (2010-2011 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report)
In 2006 The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors needed to finance a $27 million dollar gap for the San Bernardino County Fire Department and their provision of fire protection services for Helendale, Silverlake, and a few nearby townships. To do this they levy a $150+ parcel tax for property owners that fall under the Fire Protection Zone 5 assessment.
In the ensuing years, SBCBS and LAFCO decide they want to expand the assessment area and subject 95% of San Bernardino County to the FP-5 annexation. They maneuver around California Constitutional Law requiring approval of those being taxed by carrying out a ‘protest process’ and, taking silence as a form of consent for the annexation, go ahead and blanket the rest of San Bernardino County with the FP-5 tax.
LAFCO Meets Resistance
San Antonio Heights gets wind of this nonsense and begin to voice their disapproval. They’re unincorporated after all, but being contiguous with nearby Upland, were rolled into the annexation anyway – thanks LAFCO) The citizens determine they don’t like having votes cast on their behalf. As a result, they form a Homeowners Association, file suit, and in 2019 a judge rules in their favor and exempts them from the annexation and the increased property tax.
This would be cause to celebrate, but the SBCBS and LAFCO have seen how easy it could be to expand the Fire Protection Zone, and are still determined to do so, without voter approval, thanks to their ‘protest process’. Taking what San Antonio Height’s did a step further, The Red Brennan Group arrives on scene.
The Red Brennan Group Gets Busy
In the summer of 2019, The Red Brennan Group, a group already associated with tax reduction and government reform, decide to give legal notice to the county of their intent to circulate a petition. This result in a ballot measure being put in front of the voters in unincorporated areas. This would, importantly, give them, at last, the opportunity to vote on the FP-5 measure, and, hopefully, repeal the associated tax.
The first thing the attorney for the Red Brennan Group did was send a letter to Bob Page, the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, asking him how many valid signatures would be required to qualify the repeal measure being on the ballot. Simple enough, right?
A Goal to Strive For
Instead of getting a response from Mr. Page, Aaron Burden, the aforementioned Red Brennan Group attorney, recieves a reply from Chief Assistant County Counsel Penny Alexander-Kelley, who is in turn writing on behalf of County Counsel Michelle Blakemore. The response is rather long winded, describing how no less than 10% of the voter population (given that it’s less than 500,000) as determined by the last report submitted to the Secretary of State is the number of signatures required. As a result the Red Brennan Group was told they needed to collect 26,183 signatures to get the repeal vote on the ballot.
With this goal in mind, the Red Brennan Group hit the ground running and began what was to become a 5-month-long campaign of signature gathering.
What happens next?