LATHROP – A new Lathrop sales tax is being explored to rescue the fiscally ailing Lathrop-Manteca Fire District.
Initial steps to establish a 2x2 committee that will explore such a possibility are already under way. The two representatives selected from the city council and the fire district will be mandated to meet on a regular basis to thresh out the feasibility of introducing a sales tax earmarked for the fire district, with those funds strictly going to provide service to the incorporated city of Lathrop.
The Lathrop council on Tuesday earlier this week was scheduled to appoint the city’s two representatives to the 2x2 committee but that was postponed due to the absence of the mayor who was sick. This item was tabled for a future council meeting.
The Lathrop-Manteca Fire District board of directors did the same thing at their regular meeting Thursday night. But in the chief’s report to the board, Fire Chief Fred Manding said of the prospect of a fire sales tax in the future, “I look at it as a positive thing. We need to look at it really, really hard,” he told the five-member board.
Any revenues generated from that proposed sales tax would be earmarked only for services in the incorporated city of Lathrop. The district also covers unincorporated areas of San Joaquin County, with fire protection and emergency calls provided by four stations: Station #4 at Mossdale Landing in west Lathrop, Station #3 at East Lathrop Road near New Haven School, Station #2 on South Union Road near Nile Garden Elementary School, and Station #1 on J Street in Historic Lathrop.
The fire district, which is funded by property taxes, has not been immune to the fiscal hemorrhaging plaguing just about every level of government and agencies nationwide. Among the steps that the district has so far done to solve its budget deficit include significantly paring down its overtime budget expenses and not replacing positions left vacant by retiring personnel.
In addition to the prospect of a future local sales tax to beef up the city’s fire protection, the city council has also talked about a possible city fire department although, this has not been formally nor officially tabled by the council.
However, when the newest fire station was built on River Islands Parkway to serve Mossdale Landing and the rest of the city’s Central Lathrop Specific Plan area between the freeway and the river and from the old East Louise Avenue to the city’s northern city limits near Klo Road, the city voted to allocate nearly $1 million to hire additional fire personnel needed to staff the new fire station. That one-time sunset grant is about to end.
Established in the mid 1930s, the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District provides fire protection to approximately 100 square miles of geographical area that includes outlying rural areas around Manteca plus all of incorporated Lathrop.
Initial steps to establish a 2x2 committee that will explore such a possibility are already under way. The two representatives selected from the city council and the fire district will be mandated to meet on a regular basis to thresh out the feasibility of introducing a sales tax earmarked for the fire district, with those funds strictly going to provide service to the incorporated city of Lathrop.
The Lathrop council on Tuesday earlier this week was scheduled to appoint the city’s two representatives to the 2x2 committee but that was postponed due to the absence of the mayor who was sick. This item was tabled for a future council meeting.
The Lathrop-Manteca Fire District board of directors did the same thing at their regular meeting Thursday night. But in the chief’s report to the board, Fire Chief Fred Manding said of the prospect of a fire sales tax in the future, “I look at it as a positive thing. We need to look at it really, really hard,” he told the five-member board.
Any revenues generated from that proposed sales tax would be earmarked only for services in the incorporated city of Lathrop. The district also covers unincorporated areas of San Joaquin County, with fire protection and emergency calls provided by four stations: Station #4 at Mossdale Landing in west Lathrop, Station #3 at East Lathrop Road near New Haven School, Station #2 on South Union Road near Nile Garden Elementary School, and Station #1 on J Street in Historic Lathrop.
The fire district, which is funded by property taxes, has not been immune to the fiscal hemorrhaging plaguing just about every level of government and agencies nationwide. Among the steps that the district has so far done to solve its budget deficit include significantly paring down its overtime budget expenses and not replacing positions left vacant by retiring personnel.
In addition to the prospect of a future local sales tax to beef up the city’s fire protection, the city council has also talked about a possible city fire department although, this has not been formally nor officially tabled by the council.
However, when the newest fire station was built on River Islands Parkway to serve Mossdale Landing and the rest of the city’s Central Lathrop Specific Plan area between the freeway and the river and from the old East Louise Avenue to the city’s northern city limits near Klo Road, the city voted to allocate nearly $1 million to hire additional fire personnel needed to staff the new fire station. That one-time sunset grant is about to end.
Established in the mid 1930s, the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District provides fire protection to approximately 100 square miles of geographical area that includes outlying rural areas around Manteca plus all of incorporated Lathrop.
