Around 66 percent of voters rejected a proposal that would have raised property taxes in order to increase staffing for the Central Valley Fire District.
Central Valley’s Fire Chief Lonnie Rash says he wants to keep ahead of growth before staffing becomes a crisis.
“We really are close. We'll see what growth happens in the next six months. But I say within the year it is, if not now, a critical need. It will be an absolute critical need to secure funding,” says Rash.
He says things could back up in the meantime until more funding becomes available.
“We're going to continue to respond to emergencies. We may just be a little slower than we were hoping to be,” says Rash. “But we'll continue to respond. They will then execute a plan and determine when we will do that.”
Rash says the district will decide as early as December, when and how it will ask voters once again for more money.
“So every indication is from our board is that we will be back out because this need does not go away,” says Rash.
