https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2017/05/08/the-mischief-being-done-by-the-atherton-town-council

Town Square

The mischief being done by the Atherton Town Council

Original post made by Peter Carpenter, Atherton: Lindenwood, on May 8, 2017

The Atherton Town Council has spent $50,000 of our hard-earned tax dollars to figure out how to enrich the Town’s coffers by stealing some of the property tax dollars paid by Atherton residents to the Fire District.

In the highly unlikely event that this selfish effort succeeds here is what would happen:

1 – The Town would “gain” $3-5 million of property taxes from property taxes formerly paid to the Fire District by Atherton property owners,

2 – The Fire District would lose $12 million of property taxes formerly paid to the Fire District by Atherton property owners,

3 – The property taxes paid by Atherton property owners would not decrease by even a single penny,

4 – The Fire District would be forced to close at least two of its seven stations - which would be those with the lowest call volumes (Stations 3 and 5 both of which serve Atherton),

5 – Atherton would need to build or buy at least one and probably two fire stations at a cost of $15 -20 million – and that would take 3-5 years and require a new Atherton Parcel Tax,

6 – The Fire District’s service levels to the remaining 83,000 residents in Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County would be substantially decreased.

So exactly why is the Atherton Town Council going down this road????

Comments