Calabasas Meeting Set on County Fire Budget

Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman will host a community meeting Monday to outline the Fire Department’s 1997-98 budget and how it will be affected by Proposition 218.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Las Virgenes Unified School District offices, 4111 N. Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas.

In light of an earlier-than-usual fire season, the officials also will discuss fire prevention and fire protection strategies with residents in the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village, as well as unincorporated county areas in this fire-prone zone, said Susan Nissman, Yaroslavsky’s field deputy.

The meeting is one stop on a campaign to get the message out on a $51.7-million loss to the department’s budget in the wake of Proposition 218, which was approved in November and gave residents the ability to vote on local taxes, but took away the department’s benefit assessment district.

In recent months, Assistant Fire Chief Stephen J. Alexander has spoken to several homeowner associations and city councils about the shortfall, but this is the first time a regional meeting has been held to discuss the issue.

“[Alexander] was able to give the facts and the technical stuff, but [Yaroslavsky] is very concerned about this issue, and this is the first time he’s been able to speak about it to his affected constituency out here,” Nissman said.

In an effort to maintain staffing within the Fire Department, the county has placed on the June 3 ballot Proposition E, a special tax that would serve as a replacement for the assessment district, which will expire July 1.