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My Areas of Focus

  • Wildfire Prevention

    • Wildfire does not have boundaries.  Prevention needs to be addressed at the District and regional levels.  MOFD has to lead the way.

    • Currently Orinda is working, on its own, using Measure R Supplemental Sales Tax revenues, to address prevention and evacuation.  This should be an MOFD initiative.

    • The majority of the prevention efforts (fuel mitigation) is currently entrusted to MOFD’s 12,600 private property owners.  While individuals need to be aware of the risk of wildfire and understand how they can manage their own property to reduce the risk, this is a public health issue which “the government” (MOFD), need to be more involved in.

    • The current “risk” mapping is rudimentary.  It needs to be modeled in detail bringing the areas of greatest need in focus.  This should be MOFD’s responsibility.

    • After areas of risk have been determined and efforts made to reduce the risk, periodic updates need to be made of the risk mapping.  Just like we survey our roads, we need to have a program to survey our wildfire risk.  This should be MOFD’s job, not Orinda’s or Moraga’s acting independently.

    • MOFD has the funds to accomplish this.  Neither Orinda nor Moraga have these funds.  The district currently has $60 million in reserves, with a ten-year projection to increase the reserves by another $90 million.  Some of this money needs to go to wildfire prevention.

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  • Financial Stability

    • Having enough money to operate is not MOFD’s problem.  MOFD projects that over the next ten years it will run a surplus of $90 million, and that assumes an annual increase in property tax revenue of 3.5%.  Over MOFD’s history (long term and short term), tax revenue has increased at an average rate of 5.3%.  There is strong indication that it will continue to increase at this rate and if it does, MOFD’s ten-year surplus could be $130 million.  

    • MOFD receives 22.6% of Orinda’s property tax revenue and 18.8% of Moraga’s (including Canyon) revenue.  In addition, it receives parcel tax revenue, but that only accounts for 3% of total tax revenue.  These percentages were set by Prop 13 50 years ago.  Are they still appropriate?  Do they need to be reviewed by Orinda, Moraga and MOFD?

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