The hard-fought campaign for Measure PFD, Pasadena’s proposed parcel tax for fire, paramedic, 911 and wildfire-preparedness services, will learn Thursday morning where the measure stands against the two-thirds approval it needs, when the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk releases its next vote count at about 9 a.m.
Because Measure PFD is a special tax, it needs two-thirds of the votes cast on it to pass. In the latest count, 26,635 voters, or 65.45%, voted yes and 14,059, or 34.55%, voted no. That leaves the measure 1.21 percentage points and 495 votes short of the 27,130 yes votes it would need at two-thirds of the 40,694 votes counted.
Ballots remain to be counted. Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day are counted if they arrive within seven days. After Thursday’s 9 a.m. release, the registrar plans multiple results updates through the week.
What the measure would do
Measure PFD, formally the City of Pasadena 911 Firefighter/Paramedic Emergency Medical/Wildfire Preparedness/Response Measure, would levy 19 cents a year per square foot of improved property for 14 years, raising about $22.1 million a year, according to the ballot question. The rate would not rise automatically. The city estimates a 1,600-square-foot home would pay about $304 a year.
The ordinance exempts owners whose household income is at or below the very-low-income limit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets for the Los Angeles area, regardless of age; owners who receive the city’s senior or disability exemption from the utility users tax; and property owned by government agencies or by qualifying religious and community service organizations.
The money would go into a special fund restricted to Fire Department purposes. The ordinance calls for the reconstruction of Fire Stations 33 and 37 within the first 10 years, along with an additional fire station, training centers and Fire Department headquarters. A proposed timeline the city published Oct. 15, labeled as Fire Department recommendations subject to City Council decisions, begins with enhanced brush clearance and the start of a training center in the first two years; adds a seventh rescue ambulance and starts rebuilding Stations 33 and 37 in years three through five; and adds a third ladder truck, an eighth rescue ambulance, a ninth suppression company and the start of a ninth fire station in years six through 10.
The ordinance requires an annual independent audit and an annual public report from the city’s director of finance.
The City Council voted 7-0, with Councilmember Tyron Hampton abstaining, on Aug. 3 to place the measure on the ballot, about 19 months after the January 2025 Eaton Fire.
If the measure fails, the City Attorney’s impartial analysis says, the city would fund fire and emergency services “with available resources only.” The city says existing crews, apparatus and the eight fire stations would continue serving the community with available resources.
The opposition
Opponents include the Committee for Responsible Property Taxation, whose top funders are the National Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors, according to the committee’s disclosure; the Pasadena-Foothills Association of Realtors; the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles; the Pasadena Star-News editorial board; and former Mayor William Paparian.
Matt Klink, campaign consultant for the No on PFD campaign, said in an interview with Pasadena Now before the polls closed Tuesday that voters could support firefighters and still oppose the tax, and that the City Council should fund public safety first. He disputed the firefighters union’s warning that stations would close if the measure failed.
“Pasadena has eight fire stations now. When PFD fails, they will continue to have eight fire stations,” Klink said.
Klink said that with mail ballots still arriving, “we’re not going to know how many ballots are outstanding,” and that the two-thirds threshold would make the winner harder to determine. He said the campaign would comment on where it stands “when it’s appropriate,” and that he was confident more than one-third of Pasadena voters would side with the No campaign.
Paparian, who wrote that he is not a member of any committee and was offering his views as a former mayor and councilmember, responded to questions after the first results were posted.
“The result, whether it holds or not, shows that a significant share of Pasadena voters are willing to approve another restricted tax for fire and emergency services even after Measure I,” Paparian wrote. “It also shows that a substantial share are not.”
He wrote that Measure I, the three-quarter-cent sales tax Pasadena voters approved in 2018, has sent roughly $147 million to the general fund since 2019 while Stations 33 and 37 remain unfunded.
“If the measure passes, the restricted new money can be used for them; the test will be whether general-fund support is maintained,” he wrote. “If it fails, the stations return to the ordinary capital budget, where they have sat.”
Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s important to make sure you have the utmost in public safety; I just disagree with how the funds are being raised.”
The supporters
Supporters include the Pasadena Firefighters Association Local 809, Mayor Victor Gordo, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals and the West Pasadena Residents’ Association.
“What we’re asking the voters to review is our record of service,” Gordo said in August, the Pasadena Star-News reported. “What we’re asking them is to look at our plan for continuing that level of service.”
Fire Chief Chad Augustin, who has said Stations 33 and 37 do not meet seismic standards, told the Star-News in October, “If you took out 25% of your capacity to serve our community both today, but also in a disaster, we’re really going to be impacted and that’s why replacing those two fire stations and making that a priority is so important.”
Raffy Bitchakdjian, president of Local 809, told the Los Angeles Times in October that the city is outgrowing its fire department.
“We’re not asking for more to do less,” he said. “We’re just asking to keep up with the demand.”
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