New Fee May Drain California Firefighting Budget
SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) -- A California law that imposes an annual wildfire fee on rural residents may have an unintended consequence—sapping the state fire agency of money it needs to fight wildland blazes.
Concerns about the $150-a-year fee, which is contained in the state budget, were raised Wednesday by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Democrats in the Legislature passed the fee and said it eventually would raise $200 million a year. That would allow the state to transfer an equal amount of money from the state fire department to the general fund budget.
But under the law, fee revenue must be spent only on fire-prevention, not firefighting. George Gentry, a forestry board executive, told The Associated Press he is not sure how the agency will make up the money.
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