San Mateo County ditches parcel tax

The county has been working with the firm, Terris Barnes Walters Boigon Heath Lester since last April to explore options for a potential revenue measure that would go toward climate resilience and wildfire mitigation.

Under the $835,000 agreement, TBWBHL was tasked with designing, planning and implementing a public engagement push as well as playing an advisory role on the feasibility of a revenue ballot measure.

The Board of Supervisors was expected to address the measure during their upcoming meeting Tuesday but the board’s subcommittee, including President Don Horsley and Supervisor Dave Pine, decided the measure should not come forward after the firm’s polling showed the measure lacked the two-thirds support it would need to pass.

Had the measure come before the voters, Supervisor David Canepa said it would have been an utter failure. He called the measure a “nobel idea” but said the public is struggling to get by and don’t need another tax right now.

“People right now can’t afford to fill their gas tanks, inflation is at an astronomical rate. I’m not surprised one iota, one bit that this is not moving forward,” Canepa said.

Had the measure been approved, the money would have been used to address the growing threat of sea level rise that’s challenging the east and west side of the county and the potential flooding it would cause.

Years of drought conditions have also contributed to greater concern around wildfires, and recent threats have caused more urgency to reduce dry brush and other highly flammable materials that puts residents at risk.

Callagy said the county was lucky that winds were low a few weeks ago when the Edgewood Fire burned about 20 acres in the hills above Redwood City. If not, he said residents could have experienced another catastrophic incident like 2020’s CZU Lightening Complex, which burned more than 86,000 acres of land between the southern end of San Mateo County and much of Santa Cruz County after the region was struck by about 11,000 lightning bolts during a dry thunderstorm.

The county’s Parks Department has put forward a Five-Year Wildfire Fuel Mitigation Plan meant to address some risks but Callagy called the effort a “drop in the bucket.” The collection of 32 projects — estimated to cost about $19 million — would harden up only 1,830 acres of the county’s 16,000 acres of park land.

Like residents, the county is also bracing for financial hardship after years of growth, officials said during a recent budget discussion. But Callagy said officials will continue to harden the community against environmental risks using current revenue streams.

“These conditions are not going to change in the foreseeable future and we have to do something to correct these threats to proctor life,” Callagy said. “We’re going to keep doing what we do with limited revenue. … People of this county want to address these issues and they are important issues to anyone in one capacity or another.”

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