Fire Tax printed materials now online

You can download the PowerPoint Fire Chief John Chamberlin shared with us at the October 12, 2015, at the community meeting on the proposed fire tax, along with information on the 2005 Special Tax.

Download the PowerPoint.
Download information on the 2005 Special Tax.

View the meeting at YouTube.

Hi Desert Star: Wonder Valley fills community center to debate fire rates, October 15, 2015
Desert Trail: Wonder Valley may see fire tax rise, October 1, 2015

Wonder Valley turns out to hear about proposed fire tax

About 80 folks from Wonder Valley crowded into the Wonder Valley Community Center to hear San Bernardino County Fire Department Division Chief, John Chamberlin, Division 5, South Desert, discuss a proposed increase in the local fire tax.

You're right, that's not 80 people. There were more people standing behind the photographer.

Mark Lundquist, the field rep for San Bernardino County Supervisor James Ramos, was present, as was Jim Brakebill, the instructor for Copper Mountain College's Fire Technology program, and a reporter from the Desert trail

Bob Stephenson, who videotapes the Municipal Advisory Council meeting  was hired to tape this meeting. You can watch the video of the meeting by following this link:
bit.ly/wvfiretaxmeeting.
DVDs of the meeting will also be available to check out in the Community Center. Links to the materials that Mr. Chamberlin passed out will also be posted here.

Thank you to everyone who turned out for this important meeting.

Desert Trail Column, October 8, 2015

Darlene’s Commentary: I ran across this list of suggested ways that can improve your chances of avoiding dementia, or at least put a lot of years between now and its onset!

• Take an art class, or try arts and crafts, or a greeting-card class. 
• Did you play a musical instrument as a child? Take lessons again. 
• READ! Dip into authors and topics you haven’t explored before. 
• Play games you enjoy, and learn new ones. 
• Try video games! 
• Do a crossword puzzle every day. 
• Try a Sudoku puzzle (my favorite)! 
• Sign up for classes at a Senior Center. There’s always a variety of interesting ones to choose from.

Karen’s Commentary:  There is a very big and scary issue looming for Wonder Valley property owners. San Bernardino County Fire Department Division Chief John Chamberlin approached our MAC Representative Teresa Sitz about the need for an increase on our taxes for fire and emergency services. We are currently paying approximately $33 per parcel per year for these services, and the proposed annual amounts are – are you ready for this? – from $302 to $453 per parcel per yearl! Oh, my.

We also have the option of turning our fire and emergency services over to Twentynine Palms, which is laughable since they are having a tremendous amount of trouble just covering their current area, let alone adding Wonder Valley to the mix. This is a BIG issue. Division Chief Chamberlin will be at our community meeting on October 12 at the Wonder Valley Community Center, 80526 ½ Amboy Road at 9 am. He will present the proposals and options and answer questions. Please
 do your very best to attend this important meeting, and bring your best behavior with you as this is going to be a high-stress topic for all of us. Keep in mind that Chief Chamberlin probably did not come up with these proposals on his own; he is only the messenger. Remember that you get more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Reach Out Morongo Basin will pick you up on Tuesdays and Thursdays at The Palms at 10 a.m. to take you to the 29 Palms Nutrition Site for lunch, then bring you back at 2 p.m., all at no charge. If you have a problem getting to The Palms, they will pick you up and drop you off at your residence. Call 760-361-1410.

Handy Hint: Preweighed produce is convenient, but you should reweigh it just in case. A 5-pound bag of carrots can actually weigh anywhere from 4.5 to 6 pounds!

Thought for Today: “Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

Until next time . . . remember to take time to enjoy the WONDERs all around us.

Fire Statistics and Information for Wonder Valley

 Download this information.

If you want to prepare useful questions for Monday's meeting, I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the 10 pages of the LAFCO Service Reviews for the Twentynine Palms and Wonder Valley Communities, pertaining to Wonder Valley Fire Protection District FP-4, from May of 2012.
The entire report (p. 165-175): www.sbcounty.gov/lafco/items/201205/Item_8.pdf
Wonder Valley only: http://bit.ly/wvfp4

FIRE FACTS
Wonder Valley contracts with the San Bernardino County Fire Department for our fire and emergency services:
http://www.sbcfire.org/

Our Division Chief is John Chamberlin.

We are in SBCFD Division 5 (South Desert) 
http://bit.ly/southdesertregion
which includes Big River, Black Meadow Landing, Copper Mountain Mesa, Havasu Landing, Homestead Valley / Landers, Johnson Valley, Joshua Tree, Needles, Panorama Heights, Park Moabi, Parker Strip, Pioneertown, Wonder Valley, and Yucca Valley.

The following report was taken from the SBCFD Annual Report for 2014/2015

DIVISION 5 (South Desert)

LAFCO Service Reviews for the Twentynine Palms and Wonder Valley Communities
www.sbcounty.gov/lafco/items/201205/Item_8.pdf
(Wonder Valley only) http://bit.ly/wvfp4, pages 165-175, May 7, 2012

What we pay now for Fire & Emergency Services
“The reorganization of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District (LAFCO 3000), effective July 1, 2008, included the transfer of responsibility for fire services from County Service Area 70 Zone M (serving the Wonder Valley area) to a new Service Zone FP-4 of the newly reorganized San Bernardino County Fire Protection District (‘County Fire’) along with the formation of the regional South Desert Service Zone.”

Included in the transfer was 
1. 100% of the ad valorem property tax from CSA 70 Zone M and
2. the special tax for the provision of fire protection service within the Wonder Valley Community from CSA 70 Zone M.

Our 1% property tax goes to the SBFD’s South Desert Service Zone, and the special tax goes to Service Zone FP-4.

     “Zone FP-4 has no direct employees; it pays for a proportional share of salaries and benefits costs necessary to serve it and pays a proportional cost of the administrative functions of County Fire and its South Desert Service Zone.” P. 173

OPTION, LAFCO
LAFCO Service Reviews for the Twentynine Palms and Wonder Valley Communities, p 174
“Twentynine Palms Water District as the fire provider in the Wonder Valley community. In this scenario, the Water District could expand its sphere of influence and annex the boundaries of Zone FP-4 of County Fire. The Water District would succeed to County Fire’s assets to include the assessment of Zone FP-4 and become responsible for fire protection services to all of the Wonder Valley community. Benefits could be achieved as the region would elect a single board of directors, have local control of financial resources and determine the level of service to be provided.”

Zone FP-4’s incident response categories and times 
July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010
www.sbcounty.gov/lafco/items/201205/Item_8.pdf
http://bit.ly/wvfp4, pages 169, May 7, 2012

WONDER VALLEY DEMOGRAPHICS
Population is difficult to determine as many people live in Wonder Valley on a seasonal basis.
City-Data: 528
LAFCO: 999
Registered Voters: ?
City-Data.com 2013
Median household income in 2011: $15,399
Median age - males: 62.5 years
Median age - females: 60.0 years
Average household size: 2 people
Percentage of population below poverty level: 16.9%
Percentage of units with a mortgage: 38.8%

2015 FEDERAL POVERTY GUIDELINES