It’s not fair; it’s not constitutional, but thanks to Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature, fire tax bills are coming all the same.
The State of California will begin mailing the first of more than 825,000 “Fire Prevention Fee” bills on Monday, August 13.
The tax, approved as a fee by a simple majority vote of the Legislature last year, charges residential property owners in rural areas $150 for each habitable structure located on their land. Property owners who pay for local fire protection will receive a $35 reduction.
To help inform California taxpayers, I’ve established a website, calfirefee.com, providing information about the new fire tax. Californians can visit this site to find out if they might soon receive a fire tax bill. You can also find details regarding the process, timeline and grounds for filing an appeal.
The bills will go out in alphabetical order by county between August and early December. The state has released the following partial mailing schedule:
ALAMEDA August 13th through 14th
ALPINE August 14th
AMADOR August 14th through 17th
BUTTE August 17th through 24th
CALAVERAS August 24th through 29th
COLUSA August 29th
CONTRA COSTA August 29th
DEL NORTE August 29th through 30th
EL DORADO August 30th through September 7th
FRESNO September 7th through 10th
GLENN September 10th
HUMBOLDT September 10th through 12th
IMPERIAL September 12th
INYO September 12th