Fifty cents extra for every $100 you spend is what fire districts in the county will ask from you if the county board of supervisors allows a sales tax increase measure to be placed on the November ballot. An extra $5 for every $1,000 spent that could have emergency service personnel on duty if your property or your life is in danger. Volunteer fire districts in the county in five years could be overwhelmed if nothing new is done to help the volunteers, and in five years I would think that all fire districts in the county could have staff at stations with a .5 percent sales tax increase.
I have been told that a .5 percent increase in sales tax will hurt the poorest people in the county the most, but not having paid staff at stations could hurt them in the case of a heart attack or if their families' homes are burning in a fire while waiting for volunteers to go to there stations and get equipment instead of rolling to the emergency instantly. I would think that with staff manning stations in the county 24/7, insurance premiums would go down because of a more favorable rating by the state insurance agencies, which would save money for property owners and property renters.
I just hope that county supervisors do not allow other tax increases to be placed on the November ballot, which I think would kill all requested increases and put your local fire districts and volunteers in a even worse situation then they are in now.