Your guide to Pasadena Measure PFD: A special parcel tax to fund the fire department

The dueling campaigns over a Pasadena ballot measure that would levy a special tax on property owners for fire department funding are heating up in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election. In a press release, the city of Pasadena last month encouraged neighborhood associations, homeowner groups and other organizations to host informational sessions on Measure PFD, featuring presentations from Fire Chief Chad Augustin and other city staff. But if you ask opponents of the measure, these events are actually campaign stops.

The presentations focus on everything that supposedly won’t happen if the measure fails, according to a press release from the No on Measure PFD Campaign. The city has turned the fire department into the grassroots campaign arm for Yes on PFD, said Matt Klink, a consultant for the No campaign. Augustin disputed that characterization of the presentations and said he’s provided only factual information about the measure so residents can understand the choices before them. That, in my mind, is education, not advocacy, he said.

Meanwhile, the Yes on Measure PFD Campaign has accused the No campaign of running a digital ad and using website language suggesting that local firefighters don’t support the measure. None of the Pasadena firefighters support a no on Measure PFD, said Raffy Bitchakdjian, president of the Pasadena Firefighters Assn. 809. So for them to use our name, our likeness, and actually go say that is very deceptive.

Here’s what to know about Measure PFD: What will the measure do? The measure would levy an annual parcel tax in Pasadena of 19 cents per square foot of improved property, with exemptions for low-income homeowners. That would pencil out to about $304 a year for a 1,600 square-foot home. The revenue, estimated to total $22.1 million annually, would go into a special fund earmarked for fire stations, apparatus, equipment and staffing. The city plans to use the funds to add a battalion chief, demolish and reconstruct Fire Stations 33 and 37, build a training center and an additional fire station, purchase another ladder truck and two more ambulances and hire 36 more firefighters.

The funding also would be used to support year-round brush clearance in government-owned common areas, Augustin said. Right now, such brush clearance is handled by Pasadena Parks and Recreation, which has funding to perform it for only part of the year, he said. The tax, which requires a two-thirds majority to pass, would expire after 14 years. Who are the supporters? The Pasadena Firefighters Assn. is the biggest financial supporter, and the measure also is backed by the Pasadena City Council and Mayor Victor Gordo.

Many of the city’s fire stations were built in the 1950s, and there’s been a tenfold increase in 911 call volume since, Augustin said. Some of that is because the fire department now handles medical calls, which used to be fielded by a separate emergency center. But calls also have increased in complexity to include reports of hazardous materials and widespread brush fires that threaten an increasingly large segment of people living in areas that abut wildlands, he said.

The fire department has long advocated for its own training center, Bitchakdjian said. Firefighters train at a makeshift center run from a shuttered elementary school and must travel to neighboring cities such as Glendale and Alhambra and as far away as Santa Fe Springs for certain technical training like live fire exercises, he said. In the event of an emergency, it takes them that much longer to cut loose from training and travel back to Pasadena, he said. We’re not asking for more to do less. We’re just asking to keep up with the demand.

Other supporters include state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the United Nurses Assns. of California-Union of Health Care Professionals. Who are the opponents? The primary financial backers of the No on Measure PFD Campaign are the California Assn. of Realtors and International Assn. of Realtors.

The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles also is opposed to the measure. Pasadena rental property owners already are subject to strict rent control standards, which will leave them with few options to recoup the extra costs they face under the measure, executive director Daniel Yukelson said. He said it’s unfair for the burden to fall solely on property owners, even though all community members and visitors ostensibly benefit from emergency services. He believes the city instead should fund the fire department’s priorities through the general fund, cutting costs in other areas if necessary.

It’s important to make sure you have the utmost in public safety; I just disagree with how the funds are being raised, Yukelson said. I think the city needs to do the hard work of making sacrifices to try and find the money before going to voters and property owners to try to raise the money for this. The Pasadena Star-News Editorial Board also opposes the measure, noting that Pasadena homeowners already are subject to 12 direct assessments and voted indebtedness tax measures, in addition to the general tax levy.

The measure also is opposed by former Pasadena Mayor William Paparian, who has pointed out that in 2018, voters approved Measure I, which permanently raised the sales tax by 0.75%, to fund general city services including fire and emergency services and to keep fire stations open. While the measure has raised $147 million for the general fund, the city has spent only a small portion on repairs and maintenance for Stations 33 and 37 rather than using the money to replace them, Paparian wrote in an Oct. 15 editorial for Pasadena Now. Why is this on the ballot? The Eaton fire, which killed 19 people in neighboring Altadena last year, served as a wake-up call to city leaders, Augustin said.

In its wake, Gordo and the City Council asked him to come up with a plan for what a more fire-ready Pasadena would look like. The fire department analyzed dispatch records and saw a dire need to add more resources, Bitchakdjian said. Officials also realized that Stations 33 and 37, known to require seismic retrofits, were actually in such bad shape that they needed to be torn down and rebuilt, he said.

Recognizing these needs, the Pasadena City Council in August voted to place Measure PFD on the ballot. While the city has invested in the fire department over the last six years, committing roughly $20 million to upgrade apparatus and equipment and remodel two fire stations, more is needed, and the city simply doesn’t have the funds in its budget, Augustin said. Ultimately there’s not enough dollars, he said, which is why it’s going to the voters.