The City of Berkeley is facing a significant budget deficit, and has now for at least 8 years. It will discuss its response to the deficit tonight Tuesday May 19, at 6:00pm. In response to this deficit, among other measures the city briefly proposed to close Fire Station 4.
In the last budget committee meeting last Thursday, the city withdrew this proposal, but only temporarily—-it hopes that the voters will pass, in November, a 0.5% increase of our local sales tax, which will improve our budget situation. This is one of several significant tax increases on the November ballot.
However, in 2008 with measure GG, and in 2020 again, with measure FF, we, the voters, agreed to additional parcel taxes, that we are paying every year, to prevent the closure of fire stations and increase both fire and emergency services. This is more than inconsistent with the city’s proposal to close fire station 4 and decrease fire services, which we partially pay for through parcel taxes.
In 2025, the city also asked us, in the Grizzly Peak and Panoramic Hill Mitigation Areas, to engage in significant projects and expenses over the next few years to improve our resilience to wildfire for the sake of our own neighborhood but also to protect the rest of the city. It would be shocking for the city to do so in 2025, then, in 2026, to reduce its ability to assist us in our defense against wildfire.
The suspension of the city’s plan to close Fire Station 4 is linked to the success of the increased sales tax proposal in November. It should not be. The city needs to prioritize its budget process, and decide how to allocate resources across all of its activities. Fire services should be the last to suffer from the general city deficits, when these services are partially paid for by special tax assessments that we agreed to in past years.
If you agree, we recommend that you attend the city council meeting tonight and talk, in person or virtually, or that, alternatively, you send your opinion to the council members by email at council@berkeleyca.gov. A strawman email can be found here.