Templeton voters on Tuesday approved a special property tax to fund the community’s cash-strapped fire department — making it the first unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County to do so in recent history.
Unofficial election results posted at 8 p.m. on Tuesday show 77.9% of voters cast ballots in favor of the tax, while 22.1% of voters opposed it.
“We couldn’t be happier with the support the community has shown for Fire and Emergency Services,” Fire Chief Bill White said on Wednesday.
About 42% of the 4,702 residents who received ballots in the vote-by-mail election voted, according to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said he expects to count a few hundred more ballots in the coming days and will officially certify the election results on Sept. 6.
A 24/7 fire department
Starting next year, Templeton residents will pay $180 annually per property parcel, or $15 per month, to provide the community’s Fire and Emergency Services Department with an additional $486,000 per year.
Templeton’s fire department — like other fire protection agencies in unincorporated areas of the county — is facing a $490,000 funding shortfall and is in need of additional sources of revenue to continue providing aid.
The extra tax dollars will be used solely for staffing, as the department currently has only a half-time fire chief and two full-time fire captain positions, one of which is vacant and was frozen during the election, White said.
Although the department will continue to rely on a crew of part-time firefighters, more funds will allow it to fill the vacant position, add an additional captain and engineer and shift the fire chief job from part-time to full-time, he said.
The additional staff will give the agency the ability to provide around-the-clock service seven days a week.
“We’re still going to be in a tight squeeze for a year,” White said. “But we’re going to do the best we can, knowing that money is coming.”
‘An incredibly daunting task’
Fire departments in unincorporated communities throughout the county are running out of money, according to a county study published in November 2018.
But not all residents want to pay an additional tax to support local fire and emergency services. Voters in Cayucos and Cambria recently rejected similar ballot measures to fund their fire departments.
Without additional funding, Cayucos’ fire protection district was forced to dissolve in 2018.
White called the ballot measure campaign “an incredibly daunting task.”
Templeton residents actually rejected a similar funding measure in 2009 when 61% of voters rejected a special tax, according to past Tribune stories.
“It was very emotional,” White said of learning the election results. “It’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people.”
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