Santa Cruz County leaders have launched a campaign to explore implementing a new tax to support fire-protection services in certain rural areas of the county. The Board of Supervisors this week approved spending 63-thousand, 5-hundred dollars on a political consulting firm out of San Francisco, to help educate the public about fire and funding issues. The funding is being sought to provide fire services in the areas of Bonny Doon, Davenport, the Summit and Loma Prietta areas, South Skyline, and Corralitos. Supervisors are unsure what the measure would look like, and when it would go before voters, but it would likely be in the form of an increased special district fee, or implementing a new parcel tax on property owners. A similar measure failed to pass in 2007.
