George Rebane
[This is the transcript of my regular KVMR commentary which will enjoy a delayed airing on Monday 13 February 2012 due to the station’s winter fund raising scheduled for this week.]
Regular listeners to these commentaries will recognize a different thrust and tone in my subject matter. Tonight I will urge you to support two initiatives that will benefit our community. One of the them may be subject to some contention, the other should be free of even that. An unusual fare for these little bi-weekly diatribes.
A couple of weeks ago I and two friends attended a presentation by Chief Tim Fike of the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District. The chief wanted to let us know in detail the financial situation that threatens the reduction of critical first responder services the fire district and our community faces. Due to the continued reduction in revenues from the county’s property taxes, the district’s funding will again be reduced. The district has already trimmed its expenditures to the bone during the ongoing recession. Now Chief Fike said it was time to start cutting into the bone, unless added revenues could be found.
Added revenues can only come from an increase in the fire district assessment to Nevada County properties. And today the fire district is appealing to the county’s voters to approve that increase, which will amount to a buck a week for a property with a single dwelling unit on it.
Well, over the years I have heard a lot of pleas for increased taxes for various causes and special districts. Taxes always ratchet up, and never down. Since this appeal was special because of dropping property values, I asked Chief Fike if there was a sunset provision in the tax increase – you know, when property values go back up, they rescind this tax increase. The answer was a simple no, the tax increase was permanent. Weighing the pros and cons, I walked out of that meeting not inclined to support the fire district’s appeal – as things improved, they could make up their shortfall from the usual sources.
But then, it occurred to me that we are not in a business-as-usual recession. I believe we may be in the beginning stages of something much more long term and worse. Starting to review the costs and benefits of the assessment, I read a lot of the articles that have appeared in the Union over the last week. The op-ed piece by Fred Buhler struck home. We are an overly aged community living in a high fire danger area. If we don’t approve the assessment, two stations will close, trained personnel will be laid off, emergency medical response to a medically vulnerable community will be significantly reduced, and we will most likely see our fire insurance rates go up way more than that buck a week. Moreover, some insurance companies may abandon the county completely.
For a conservetarian to put all this together, I changed my mind and decided to support this measure in the upcoming March 6th election. Check your mail-in ballots, and please join me in voting for an initiative that will benefit us all. At a buck a week, to oppose this measure now would not even be penny wise.
My second item is to introduce a new community event called TechForum sponsored by SESF, the Sierra Economics and Science Foundation. TechForum will be a quarterly gathering of Nevada County business, government, education, and community organization leaders to hear world class speakers present the latest technology advances that will have a direct bearing on how we live and work in these beautiful footfhills. The public is invited to attend these informative luncheon meetings. TechForum proceeds go to support SESF’s merit scholarship program based on TechTest, a grueling four hour annual examination for our county’s high school seniors heading for careers in technology that is now in its sixth year. As most of you know, our country is in a serious technology deficit as we continue to compete in global markets with nations whose students eagerly enter technology fields while outperforming their American peers.
On February 24th please join us for lunch and TechForum2012 in the main ballroom of the Holiday Inn Express. Our speaker will by Mr Rick Hutley who is vice president for technology innovation of Cisco Corporation. Mr Hutley and Cisco join Nevada County, Grass Valley and Nevada City Chambers of Commerce, and NCTV along with leading businesses and professional organizations as sponsors of TechForum. Remember, all the proceeds go to support the TechTest merit scholarship program to encourage our young people to prepare for careers critical for the wellbeing of our nation.
For more information and registration, please visit sesfoundation.org, that’s sesfoundation.org.
My name is Rebane, and I also expand on these and other themes in my Union columns, and on georgerebane.com where this transcript appears. These opinions are not necessarily shared by KVMR. Thank you for listening, and I promise to be much more contentious next time, honest.
[Addendum] Since this piece was recorded, KVMR has joined the growing list of sponsors supporting TechForum.
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