By Roger Gitlin, EYE ON DEL NORTE – June 28, 2021

That amount is the difference in this morning’s recount of the convoluted voting protocol of the June 14 Crescent Fire Protection District ballot count which will now PASS the controversial fire and emergency services assessment on this property owners who have a home or other structure sitting atop their parcel.

The final vote was:

860 YES

878 NO

Not a misprint. The NO votes prevailed…The minimum increase of $78 added to the $24 carried over to the new tax year as the new assessment will appear on property tax bills for improved properties with the CFPD. An additional four ballots were noted and counted by County election Clerk Alissia Northrup to the 1734 ballots, two YES and two NO totalling 1738 ballots. Clerk Northrup has demonstrated the very highest level of professional and ethical conduct during this trying time. My hat’s off to Clerk Northrup.

The total valuation of those ballots is $144,989.80. The weighted ballots, those including multi-residential properties and capped at $1000 were tallied as:

$72,503.80 – 50.01% YES

$72,486.00 – 49.99% NO

The difference is $17.80, a minuscule difference in favoring the passage of this Assessment of yet another tax.

The Fire Board will no doubt accept the results at its July 12 meeting and celebrate the assessment and have a victory dance. It is important to acknowledge Del Norte County does not have a fire problem. Del Norte County does have an emergency services spike which contributes in to a growing and significant increase in transient (homeless) population, many of whom suffer from drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness.The total amount of public $$ spent by the CFPD for both elections was about $129,000.This latest “victory” follows a failed first attempt to pass this property tax assessment in October of 2020, a 14% increase ( 7.5%-8.5%) in both the City and County Sales Tax, a 20% increase in the County of the Transient Occupancy Tax (from 8%-10%), with proceeds going directly to the Harbor District to help this beleaguered agency manage its debt issues. Nothing to celebrate here, folks.