As banks and stock markets continue to get battered, the likelihood of a voter revolt against all spending propositions and measures looms ever larger. Despite widespread support, Measure M, the local half-cent sales tax measure designed to provide paid fire and emergency medical personnel in Amador County, faces the formidable task of rising above this wave of financial opposition.

Years of effort have gone into eroding the entrenched competitive feelings among the seven volunteer firefighting entities in Amador County. All are now in agreement that the time has come to work together for the common good. Now it's up to the voters to decide whether to support this new sense of cooperation with some cash.

Rumors of a holdout by Lockwood Fire Protection District were confronted by Lockwood Director John Asmus at last week's final meeting of the Amador Fire Protection Authority prior to Election Day. What had been a dispute among AFPA members over distribution of Measure M funding is no longer an issue, he said, and the Lockwood board is now firmly in favor of the measure and the distribution plan.

In 1992, Proposition 172 passed, imposing a statewide half-cent sales tax for protective services, meaning police and fire. Money from Prop. 172, as it is now familiarly called, is given to the counties of California. The percentage of funding allocated to police and fire is determined by the individual counties.

When first implemented, Amador County's Prop. 172 money all went to law enforcement. Since then, the board of supervisors put a sliding system in place, which is intended to gradually balance funds between police services and the Amador Fire Protection District's fire protection services. To avoid cutting back on law enforcement funding to give money to fire protection, the supervisors decided to give whatever tax money comes in over the previous year's amount to fire protection. By this method, hopes are that a balance can be reached within 10 to 20 years, though this year holds little promise of any increases.

This funding, no matter how it is distributed, does not provide for paid firefighters in the cities of Amador County or in the areas covered by Lockwood and Jackson Valley fire districts.

Much has been said lately about fire insurance policies paying $500 to fire departments for each response. "Anywhere in our county, a homeowner's policy will not pay for a call," said Connie Gonsalves, AFPA board member and vice mayor of Jackson. Insurance policies will pay for calls where there isn't protection, but not where there is, creating the rather strange situation whereby the fact that Amador County has volunteer fire departments allows the insurance companies to not pay for responses made by them.

Insurance rates are also an issue with Measure M. It is conceivable that the premiums for fire insurance could be lowered by improved insurance ratings that may result from implementation of the paid firefighter system funded by the measure.

Some large counties struggle with the issue of funding firefighting. Orange County, home to more than 3 million, gives very little of its Prop. 172 funding to firefighters. In 2005, a ballot measure attempting to redirect some of the funding toward firefighting failed to pass in a bitter battle between police and fire.

In San Diego County, which does not have a countywide fire department, the board of supervisors spends 72 percent of its Prop. 172 funds on the sheriff's department, 20 percent on the district attorney and 8 percent on the probation department.

The city of El Cajon has placed Proposition J on its Nov. 4 ballot, campaigning for passage with phrasing like, "preserve funding for general city services, including maintaining firefighters and police officers." Opponents are quick to point out that the tax would not be exclusively for protective services and might result in little or no funding for protection.

Amador County firefighters spent many hours debating the pros and cons of seeking a special tax, rather than a general tax. The general tax could be passed by a simple majority of the voters, but funds collected through a general tax, as the name implies, go directly into the general fund, which is doled out at the discretion of the board of supervisors. A general tax, even one accompanied by the most well-intentioned promises of its use for a particular purpose, contains no firm assurance that it will be used for that if the budget gets tight in the future.

Local fire district leaders, who participated in the choice, are fully aware of the gamble they are taking with the special tax, which will need two-thirds of the votes to pass. And despite Asmus' reassurances, there are those in his district who remain unhappy with a funding formula that would dole out less to Lockwood's small department, including volunteer firefighter Robin Ivanoff and former LFPD board member Jackie Vaughn. Fire chiefs have responded by coming out in full support of the measure, which has also seen backing from the board of supervisors and city councils.

And even Vaughn acknowledged that, if the measure fails on Tuesday, it would have more to do with the state of the economy than the objections of a vocal minority.

Raheem Hosseini contributed to this report.