13 May San Antonio Heights : A Lesson in Civic Duty
A small townâs response to the FP-5 annexation and assessment
An FP-5 Awareness Installment
Weâll dive into the Red Brennan Groupâs involvement in the County Fire Protection Zone 5 and the FP-5 tax annexation ordeal in our next installment. Before we do, letâs take a brief detour to a quaint little town called San Antonio Heights in order to set the stage and provide some anecdotal backstory.
Dim the lights, please!
Unincorporated? So What!
San Antonio Heights is a compact, unincorporated community of just under 3 square miles with a population approaching 3,400 people. SAH isnât a part of any city (unincorporated) or San Bernardino County, and at the time of the County Fire Protection Zone 5 and the FP-5 tax annexation debacle, was already being provided service by the county fire department. In so many words, they were set, and should have been left in peace. But this didnât stop the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO, remember) from rolling San Antonio Heights into the mix with Upland. Now San Antonio Heights, like its neighbor Upland, was part of the same annexation proposal and subject to the same annual $150 parcel assessment – one they had never had to pay before!
Taking Action!
What makes The San Antonio Heights case interesting and instructive in equal measure is the way they responded to this whole clandestine affair. Unlike the majority of San Bernardino County citizens who were unknowingly roped in (some would say even deceived) by the Protest Process actions of county supervisors and LAFCO, the well-heeled citizens of SAH took stock of the situation and reacted in kind. In other words, they werenât havinâ it.
San Antonio Heights took it upon themselves to fight the annexation and assessment, and they banded together to protest the action. Weâre talking about an unfamiliar, unprecedented tax being levied against their township by virtue of the fact that they were contiguous with and adjacent to Upland (in the eyes of county officials and LAFCO). They battled the Fire Protection Zone 5 takeover and exceeded the necessary 50% +1 threshold required to defeat the measure! Success right?!? Nope. Although they met the threshold required for their relatively small population of 3,371 people, BECAUSE they were now rolled into Uplandsâ much higher population of 74,000 (of which, less than 2% lodged the necessary letters of protest) the annexation was allowed to happen.
Glass Half Full? Still Not Enough!
So what happened here?
Imagine if I told you that if you brought me a glass half full of water (letters of protest), Iâd leave you alone and wouldnât bother you (no annexation). Then when you show up with your glass half full (50% +1 threshold), I pointed to a glass 22 times bigger than yours (pop. SAH :: Uplands) and told you âNo no no, 50% of THAT glass. Sorry, mate. Enjoy your parcel tax!â.
How would you feel?
Weâd venture to guess youâd be pretty POâd. Rightfully so, and the citizens of San Antonio Heights were as well. In response, they rallied together and formed the San Antonio Heights Homeowners Association and filed suit against the annexation of their community into Fire Protection Zone 5. Then, in 2019, in their case against the City of Upland, the County of San Bernardino, and the SBCLAFCO, a judge ruled in their favor and San Antonio Heights was excused from the annexation and the $150 parcel tax.
Hooray! (Right ?)
Not so fast.
While this little battle does indeed have a happy ending, the war was far from over. The case of San Antonio Heights notwithstanding, at the end of the day, the county was still engaged in a deceptive ploy that would require every single property owner living outside the countyâs incorporated municipalities to pay the parcel tax which is and was subject to a 3% increase every year!
Consent by Silence
In much the same way they maneuvered around California Constitutional Law, county officials strategically attempted to outmaneuver San Antonio Heights. Even though SAH won, those same county officials saw how easy it was to replicate the expansion to eventually cover 95% of the rest of the county, and thatâs what theyâre trying to do. They are assuming they can successfully (re)enact their scheme without your (the voterâs) approval by utilizing that sneaky little tactic we mentioned earlier: Protest Procedure (or Consent by Silence).
If they are successful in this, the proceeds from their Fire Protection Zon 5 expansion could result in a $26.9 million increase for the pockets of County Fire, with the potential to grow every year at 3% – indefinitely!
It was going to take more than one small township fighting this battle. Larger reserves of resources needed to be pooled, and heavier legal action needed to be taken.
This is where the Red Brennan Group enters the stage.
Stay tuned for the next installment in our FP-5 Awareness Series to learn about the impact the Red Brennan Group is making in San Bernardino County.