On a warm day in early October, Sarah Newkirk spoke to passing visitors at the Good Fire Fair in Henry Cowell State Park about Measure Q: The Santa Cruz County Safe Drinking Water, Clean Beaches, Wildfire Risk Reduction and Wildlife Protection Initiative.
Measure Q would add an annual $87 tax to most parcels of land in Santa Cruz County and bring in about $7.3 million each year. It would designate the funds for use in projects related to clean water, healthy ecosystems and wildfire prevention. Measure Q would also establish a Citizens Oversight Advisory Board, made up of nine people chosen by the cities and county supervisors.
As the Executive Director of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Newkirk helped draft the measure alongside other local groups like Save Our Shores and the Coastal Watershed Council.
“What we all agreed was that we needed a dedicated, sustained, locally-controlled source of funding so that the groups that are already doing this great work on the ground could do it more effectively,” she said.
The money would be divided among a county grant program and projects managed by the cities and unincorporated communities. Some would also go to the Resource Conservation District and a local land stewardship partner for projects on private lands with public access.
The measure has a long list of supporters who spent about two years drafting the language, but the Santa Cruz County Fire Chiefs Association wants people to think twice before voting.
Mark Bingham, the association’s president and chief of the Boulder Creek Fire Department, said the group was never consulted and by the time they saw the measure, in May, it was too late to make changes.
“We hoped that they would revise it and that they would take out some of the language that referred people to thinking that there was going to be a lot of funds given towards wildfire defense,” Bingham said. “They came back and said we could apply for grants. That's fine to say that you can give us grants, but it's not earmarking a certain dollar amount for us to actually put plans in the works to mitigate these things.”
In a letter that urges voters to reject Measure Q, the Fire Chiefs Association wrote that the measure can be used to fund projects outside of clean water and wildfire initiatives.
Language in the measure does allow funds to be used for park beautification, recreation programs including sports and aquatic facilities, and environmental education and cultural programs.
“We're not against the environmental groups out there that will see benefit from it,” Bingham said. “We just want to make sure the public knows when they're voting for something that goes to fire, that it's actually going to fire.”
The Fire Chiefs Association also worried Measure Q could make voters less likely to support local fire department measures in Santa Cruz County—like Measure R, which asks voters in the Central Fire District to approve $221 million in bonds over 30 years to update facilities that were built in the 1950s.
Jason Nee, the chief of the Central Fire District, sees improving the outdated stations as the top priority.
“They were not designed for 24 hours a day, seven days a week occupation,” he said, adding that the Soquel station flooded twice in the last two years and that Central Fire has never asked for a ballot measure before.
“If we don't do something, we're going to have to change how it is that we're providing our service,” Nee said.
Proponents of Measure Q don’t see the individual fire district measures as competition.
“The fire districts are excellent at providing response, and I honor their commitment to the community,” Newkirk said. “What I will say, however, is that Measure Q is structured to actually make their job easier.”
The Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association also supports the measure. The PBA’s program manager, Jared Childress, explained why the association became a sponsor.
“Once we educated ourselves on the benefits that would have for Santa Cruz County, it was a no-brainer for us to support it,” he said. “We think that there needs to be sustained funding on all levels, whether it be for fire departments, land trusts, city governments, county parks, nonprofits like the Central Coast PBA, and others to be doing this good work on the ground.”
Measure Q needs a simple majority to pass and would be in effect until ended by voters.
While supporters and opponents differ on the details, their goal is the same: to make Santa Cruz County a safer, healthier place in the face of climate disasters like fires and floods.
