That was the conclusion after a final canvass was completed on Tuesday.
Measure A, which sought to create a new community services district, would have raised millions of dollars to add staff, including as many as six to eight more firefighters, build new facilities such as a new fire station in Buckingham at an estimated cost of $2.4 million and purchase new equipment, said Fire Chief Joe Huggins.
“It’s unfortunate that it didn’t pass,” Huggins said.
The proposed new fire station, Huggins said, “would have helped the whole district,” by reducing response times across the 100-square-mile by three quarters in an effort to keep fires small.
With the measure’s failure, Huggins said the plans of expansion are off the table, and staffing levels will remain the same. Currently, the district has two firefighters on shift at the downtown station and one per shift in the station in the Rivieras.
Looking at the last six years of wildfires in Lake County, Huggins said Kelseyville is the only area that hasn’t been affected yet.
“It’s just a matter of time. It’s not a question of if, it’s when,” said Huggins, who has been chief for the last seven years and in the district for 34 years.
The measure would have instituted substantial tax increases for property owners with no sunset.
The current costs are for up to $1 per unit of benefit. As an example, vacant residential lots currently are listed at 25 units of benefit, single family dwellings are 19 units, mobile homes are 19 units, duplexes are 25 units, triplexes are 30 units and apartments are 15 units per apartment. Huggins said the average homeowner now pays $19 a year for fire services.
Those amounts were set out in an ordinance calling for a special election approved by the fire board in December 1996, according to district documents.
“We’re not going to be able to sustain this forever,” said Huggins, noting the rising costs of everything from gas to staffing.
The total special tax rate under Measure A would have ranged from $175 per parcel for a vacant property under five acres to $870 for more than 50 acres, $175 per parcel for residential properties, mobile homes would be $122 per unit in mobile home parks, multifamily units (apartments, duplexes and triplexes) would be $122 per unit.
Huggins said those new fire tax totals would have put Kelseyville on par with other county fire districts, such as Lake County, Lakeport and South Lake County, that have successfully passed increased fire taxes in recent years. Northshore Fire has tried to pass fire measures in 2018 and 2019, but both failed.
The effort to get Kelseyville Fire’s new measure passed began in March of 2021, Huggins said. “It was time to move and make things happen.”
They hired the firm NBS. CivicMic, which is part of that company, built a website for the measure, established an 800 number for residents to ask questions and hosted multiple virtual town hall meetings which Huggins said was necessary due to COVID-19.
Measure A’s voting was done via mail-in ballots.
Following the final canvass this week, MK Elections, the firm handling the tally, issued a letter which the district posted on its website, showing that the measure was voted down by a substantial margin.
Measure A needed a two-thirds supermajority, or a 66.7% yes vote, in order to pass.
However, the final vote count showed it had only a 46% “yes” vote — about 20% below the necessary approval threshold — with no votes totaling 53%.
An initial vote count was conducted on Dec. 22, at which time the measure appeared headed for failure. That initial count showed 998 votes in favor, or 46%, and 1,134 against, or 52.8% against,with two blank ballots submitted, 11 ballots rejected and a total ballot count of 2,145.
On Tuesday, Jan. 4, the final canvass added another 193 ballots to the overall count.
Of those ballots, 86 or 44.5% voted yes, 106 or 54.9% voted no, one blank ballot was submitted and none were rejected.
The final tally was 1,084 yes votes, or 46.4%, versus 1,240 no votes, or 53%, with three blank ballots submitted, 11 rejected and 2,338 ballots submitted.
Those 2,338 ballots were returned by the 7,342 qualified voters who received ballots, according to MK Elections’ report.
Kristina Navarro, Kelseyville Fire’s financial analyst, said the district paid $94,739 to NBS for work which included CivicMic’s outreach for the measure and MK Elections’ services.
Huggins confirmed that the district paid for the consulting while the firefighters’ union paid for campaign paraphernalia — including pamphlets and banners — and did door to door campaigning.
Navarro said no discussions about Measure A are agendized for the district’s next board meeting.
As for next steps, Huggins said, “I haven’t ruled out anything,” adding, “Things are just going to have to be a little different next time.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
010622 Kelseyville Fire Measure A final canvass by LakeCoNews on Scribd