The Community Services District in Templeton is asking some residents to pay more a month to keep their fire department fully staffed.
Templeton residents will be voting on Measure A, which is a parcel tax. $180 would be collected from property owners every year who are within the Templeton CSD boundary.
According to the County of San Luis Obispo Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong, The Official Ballots and Voter Information Guides for the Templeton Community Services District Special Election were mailed to voters on Monday, July 29.
A meeting was held in July to better inform those in the community of the Measure. Ultimately, every property owner within the TCSD boundary would have to pay $15 a month in order to keep Templeton Fire fully staffed.
The TCSD says the money would go directly into a fund for fire department use only.
While only property owners will be paying, every registered voter within the TCSD Boundary can vote on the issue.
If the measure does not pass, the fire department says response times will be impacted and they will have to go to the county and tell them they will no longer be able to serve the town. They say the county will then likely decide to have CAL FIRE take over, with help from neighboring departments like Atascadero and Paso Robles.
The election is being done entirely by mail, so all voters residing within the district and registered as of Friday, July 19 will receive ballots in the initial mailing of 4,671 ballots this week.
If voters have not received their ballot by the following week, they are urged to contact the Clerk-Recorder office.
That ballot is due by August 27.
