Here is what we believe to be true: Firefighters and paramedics are essential for our well-being; no one wants to pay increased taxes; we require safe, structurally sound fire stations that serve all the community as well as the people who work and live there; and our community is worthy of an attractive, pragmatic building with requisite equipment.
Measure Z is a $10.65 million general bond with a cost of less than $10 per $100,000 of assessment (not market) property value. How else will this be accomplished? If we do nothing, we limp along until a crisis occurs, the buildings crumble, the equipment deteriorates and the community image becomes shabby. We are better than that, aren't we?
District voters overwhelmingly supported the Carpinteria-Summerland Unified School District bond for nine times that amount, or $90 million, in the last election. Both bonds (which encompass the same district boundaries) provide an opportunity to express the propriety and reality of our immediate and future needs.