| | Published November 2nd, 2016
| MOFD Fails to Dampen Frustration of Orinda Citizens' Group Regarding Tax Differences
| | | By Nick Marnell | | |
Orindans dissatisfied with the allocation of resources by the Moraga-Orinda Fire District will have to wait another day for relief as the district tabled indefinitely any discussion of tax inequity and community service modifications.
In June, Orindans unhappy with the perceived inequities between taxes paid and services received by the residents of Orinda and Moraga presented their case to the MOFD board. The board set aside a portion of its Oct. 19 meeting to hear additional detail of the residents' complaints.
"It's not about tax equity or about fairness," said Steve Cohn, spokesman for the grassroots Orinda Citizens Emergency Services Task Force, which has long demanded additional district services for what it believes are shortchanged Orinda residents. "It's about carrying through a contract between the city of Orinda and the residents of Orinda." Cohn produced no such written contract, pointing only to statements printed in a voter's pamphlet for the 1997 election in which citizens voted to form the fire district; specifically, statements made by the Orinda City Council assuring that fire protection dollars paid by Orindans will stay in Orinda.
Board president Steve Anderson of Orinda likened the discussion to the perpetuity of the undead: "It keeps arising and re-rising. We need to put a stake in it," he said.
The Orindans' demand for service equal to taxes paid has been outlined numerous times to various public agencies over the years but has yet to effect any changes in the fire district. "It's the same old argument, offered again and again, just repackaged," said Moraga resident and past MOFD director Dick Olsen, who presented the analogy of the Orinda police patrolling neighborhoods of Orinda only in proportion to the amount of taxes that each neighborhood pays.
Orinda directors Alex Evans and Brad Barber did not agree with "putting a stake in it," as Barber insisted that the board be prepared for the inequity topic to come back again and again. "Equity problems kill partnerships," Evans explained to the two dozen or so in attendance. "We're not going to solve this problem, but we should not ignore it."
Director Fred Weil, whom Cohn urged to resign in 2015 over Weil's role in improperly funding a retiring fire chief's pension, has always relied on the level of service as the true measure of district performance and has continually refuted Cohn's argument, once referring to it as a flawed polemic. "Stop this discussion now," Weil demanded.
"This is not going to go away," warned Cohn, though despite his presentation and a task force petition signed by 129 people insisting that MOFD and the city of Orinda deal with the perceived taxation-service inequity, the board gave no direction to its staff to further analyze the Orindans' complaints and set no date for revisiting the discussion.
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA