Tonight: Atherton may adopt fire district review contract

BRAVO !!!
In light of:
1) Lack of transparency (thank you PC) into the real costs of the service provided, and
2) The recent list of MPFD salaries (totally out of line, read abusive/irresponsible salaries & overtime.
it is time for Our Town to do this study.

Our Town does not need a FD rated in the top 1 percentile of FD's across America, and Our Town can surely obtain better than adequate services for not nearly the cost.

What shocks me about PC's commentaries in the salary disclosure and other posts for that matter, he reports that MPFD does not receive a parcel tax. Jokes abound.

The Fire District does NOT have a parcel tax.

If MPFD does not receive funding from a portion of property taxes, where then does their revenue come from?

MPFPD does get property taxes but it does not have any parcel taxes.

Wikipedia:
"Parcel taxes originated in response to California's Proposition 13 (1978), a state initiative constitutional amendment approved by California voters in June 1978. Proposition 13 limited the property tax rate based on the assessed value of real estate to 1% per year. However, a parcel tax circumvents the property tax rate limits of Proposition 13 because it is a flat tax on each parcel of real property and does not vary according to the assessed value of the property. As a result, a parcel tax does not violate the ad valorem property tax rate limits of Proposition 13.[5]"

Atherton gets both property taxes and has a $750 per parcel parcel tax. Without its parcel tax Atherton would have to make significant budget reductions.

So, please read my first post.
I wrote that MPSD does not receive a parcel tax.
PC found it necessary to repeat that (it seems common to react then think)

Atherton has a parcel tax.
Atherton also has a HUGE budget surplus ($9.7M)
AND the constits voted to extend the parcel tax.

Then the Town sought to use surplus funds to pay for the "civic center' Taj.
Oh what a wonderful community of fiscal mismanagement in which we live.

This is what you actually posted :
"he reports that MPFD does not receive a parcel tax. Jokes abound."

At least own what you have stated even if you know that your statements are false.

As an Atherton resident and voter, I am in complete agreement with the expenditure of these funds. Small price to pay to receive information about such a huge expenditure on the part of the residents. If the report comes back that the expenses of MPFPD are justified, great. If not, then further steps should be undertaken.

The MPFPD has made it obvious that they consider themselves above any city council and the people of the cities they are supposed to represent. While I am very hopeful that the members get voted out when their terms are up I think it is wise for Atherton to explore other options. It really looks like the District Board, and certainly their president, is on a mission to alienate every community they represent, they certainly have done a lot in that regard and have done nothing to try to repair relations with anyone. I wish Menlo would get on board with Atherton and look at alternatives or ways to curtail the current fire board. Maybe the salary report will help sway them into action.

Didn't the MPSD= Menlo Park School District, does have Parcel Taxes. Do you mean the Fire District??

"The MPFPD has made it obvious that they consider themselves above any city council "

The Fire District was established over 100 years ago before the City of Menlo Park, the Town of Atherton and the the City of East Palo Alto even existed.

The Fire Board represents, is elected by and accountable to all of the 90,000 plus residents of the District.

The Fire District is a co-equal government entity to these three local jurisdictions and it does either represent those entities nor is it accountable to their elected and appointed officials.

"The Fire District is a co-equal government entity to these three local jurisdictions"

You certainly do not act like it and you are now in a position where you have alienated the other entities. As I said I am looking forward to voting out the current board in favor of people who understand compromise and working with and not against other government organizations. In the mean time I do support the cities looking at alternatives, that is within their right, regardless of what you think.

What year was the MPFPD founded? Because I find it very hard to believe you existed 100 years before MP or Atherton. That would put the MPFPD being founded in 1754, as Menlo Park was founded in 1854, I guess you could get technical and say it was incorporated in 1874.

The City of Menlo Park was permanently incorporated in 1927.

The Fire District was established in 1916.

The school districts, the sanitary district and all other special districts are also independent of local city governments.

What makes the politicians in local government lust after control of the Fire District is that the well managed Fire District has a balanced budget and carefully built reserves. The school districts are unattractive to the cities for the very same reason.

Peter,

Splitting hairs but you seem to pride yourself on that. Menlo Park was incorporated in 1874 and in fact the Menlo Park Fire protection Districs (How could it have that name if it existed before the city) was incorporated in 1916 "The boundaries of the fire district eventually followed lines similar to those drawn for the original incorporation of Menlo Park" (Web Link

The point is that Menlo Fire Protection District is not transparent to the people or the municipalities that they are supposed to represent. Why don't you provide the documents that Menlo Park requested, why do you think you can or should use eminent domain to claim land from Menlo Park? By doing that you are in effect using eminent domain to take land owned by the citizens of Menlo Park just like you attempted to take land owned by residents of Belle Haven. Argue what you will but support for the action of the MPFPD board seem to be shrinking rapidly...

"The city (Menlo Park) originally incorporated in 1874 but dissolved after two years; it was permanently incorporated in 1927."

"Menlo Park Fire protection Districs (How could it have that name if it existed before the city) "
Simple - "n 1851 two Irish immigrants, Dennis J. Oliver and his brother-in-law D. C. McGlynn, purchased a 1,700-acre (690 ha) tract of land on the former Rancho de las Pulgas.[11] In the 1854 they erected a gate with a wooden arch bearing the inscription "Menlo Park" and the date "August 1854" at the entrance to their property (now the intersection of Middle Ave and El Camino Real).[12][13] The word "Menlo" derived from the owners' former home of Menlo in County Galway, Ireland, and is an Anglicized version of the original Irish name of the place, Mionloch, meaning "middle lake".[11]"

The Fire District used that name in 1916 and the City followed suit in 1927.

The last time the Fire District asked for voter approval (Measure Y to raise the District's tax limit) 79.08% of the voters approved. I doubt any other local tax related measure ever did this well.

The Fire Board's mission is to preserve and protect lives and property - not to aid and abet efforts by some local cities to steal the property taxes of the Fire District's residents ala "shared property tax revenue agreements" or via "increased services" for the wealthy at the expense of their less affluent neighbors.

I have to say I enjoy the fact that you are following the lead of our Washington politicians:

Ignore facts that don't align with your position, alter facts where possible to support your argument (Alternate Facts?) and focus on anything but the hard questions because you don't want to have to answer those. You are doing well but I think it works better with a later population and not so well on the local level. I wonder how much damage you can do to the MPFPD and it relationship with the towns it serves before your term is up. I guess we will wait and see...

The last time the Fire District asked for voter approval (Measure Y to raise the District's tax limit) 79.08% of the voters approved. I doubt any other local tax related measure ever did this well.

"the hard questions because you don't want to have to answer those."

And exactly what are those unanswered questions?

"the MPFPD and it relationship with the towns it serves"

Perhaps you missed my earlier posting - The Fire District serves 90,000 plus residents of the District. It does not serve any local jurisdictions.

The Fire Board is elected by and accountable to the residents of the District and it is not appointed by or accountable to any local city council.

Peter,

Bury your head all you want, the 90,000 residents live in those communities and they have also elected council members to represent them. Those city councils have asked for information which the Fire District seems to be refusing to provide, yet they want the cities to force developers to pay additional fees that get funneled directly to the MPFPD as "Fire Impact Fees" and balk when the cities do not jump at their request. As the council members are residents of the cities and the fire protection district the MPFPD is failing to provide the information they have requested. I believe Menlo Park has asked for and continues to ask for information regarding the need for Fire Impact Fees in an understandable form and has so far failed to get that information. Why? Why not be transparent?

Why is compensation so high for the Menlo Park Fire Department? It seems out of line compared to other cities like Palo Alto. A battalion chief in Palo Alto has a compensation of around $250K to $260K while Menlo Park that position earns $325K to $388K

Why does the MPFPD think it should use Eminent Domain to take property away from the city of Menlo Park? In effect you are doing to the citizens of Menlo Park the same thing you tried to do to the families in Belle Haven, take their property by force. As a citizen of Menlo Park that property is owned by us.

Let's start with those questions and go from there.

Peter,

How does it feel to be fighting multiple wars of your own creation? You did a royal job of ticking off Atherton, that is on your shoulders and it will probably come around and bit the MPFPD in one way or another. the MPFPD did another great job or ticking off Belle Haven and are now working hard to get Menlo Park against them. Add to all this the salary and compensation numbers that are out of line with the area and you have probably ticked off the constituents as well as the councils. It is a good thing you don't plan to run in 2018 I don't think the MPFPD could survive another term with you, I think it is a question if they will make it through this one...

Perhaps the Town of Atherton should consider building a wall around their affluent residents. (after first detaching the undesirables from their Town)