You can learn a lot by volunteering. Last year I learned that if our county promises an increase in Proposition 172 money to local fire agencies (state money collected for funding public safety services), the county can and did remove the same amount of money from existing budgets, meaning no net increase. This year I learned that apparently ever since the county has been collecting property tax money to distribute to local fire agencies, the person at the county auditor's office who presses the computer button to distribute the money to the different agencies, has been collecting a check from the state and not the county that they work for.

I am not the smartest person in the county, so let me see if I can explain. Fire districts were notified by the county auditor's office that even though we are volunteers, we are going to have to pay for the auditor's office to process (press computer button) the property tax monies (2 percent of 1 percent I believe, of property tax money collected) sent to all fire districts in the county. The Sutter Creek Fire Protection District is going to be charged about $5,000 per year to have the auditor's office distribute funds (press computer button). The county's reasoning for the charge is that the state of California used to pay for the service, but is now not. If that is true, then the person pressing the buttons at the county auditor's office was a state employee and not a county employee.

Volunteer firefighters in our county are getting tired (seven calls to Sutter Creek on Mother's Day) and forgive the pun, burnt out. Our county leaders are putting more and more stress on existing resources. The people of the county deserve to have a professional paid firefighting staff to protect their lives and property and our county, cities and business leaders should do everything in their power to allow it to happen instead of putting up roadblocks, as it appears to me has been done. Citizens of all fire protection districts are also going to have to help by volunteering and funding a paid firefighting staff. Volunteers have done a marvelous job for more than 100 years but the county has grown and existing volunteers are in need of help.

Reed Shugart

Sutter Creek