ZAYANTE >> This election season, Santa Cruz County voters faced the question of how much they were willing to pay for fire protection, not only within their own districts but for county and state-level efforts as well.

Among the local fire district measures that appeared on Tuesday’s general election ballot — including one largely volunteer-staffed agency and two paid departments — early voting results Wednesday showed only one with a clear path forward.

With 1,540 ballots counted as of 1:33 a.m. Wednesday in Tuesday’s general election, Zayante Fire’s plan to replace an expiring parcel tax earned more than 72% of voters’ support. Measure T asked property owners to pay as much as $290 a year with annual increases for residential, commercial and improved parcels, replacing an existing $75-a-year tax. The new measure, with no set expiration date, would provide a reduced rate of $50 a year for vacant parcels of less than 5 acres, and $100 for vacant parcels at or over 5 acres. Voters approved the earlier parcel tax in 2016, then set at $68 a year.

Among Santa Cruz County fire agencies assessed by the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Cruz County in its 2021 “Countywide Fire Protection Service and Sphere Review,” Zayante Fire received the smallest tax and assessment benefits during its 2019-2020 fiscal year. The fire agency also budgeted the second lowest per-capita expenses that year, averaging $104 per person, immediately behind Ben Lomond Fire Protection District.

“We’re staying humble. We’re cautiously optimistic and we’re waiting for county elections certification in the process, which could take days or more,” Zayante Fire Chief Jeff Maxwell said Wednesday.

The Zayante Fire Department, serving more than 5,000 residents across 18 square miles in Zayante and Lompico, pledged to put tax proceeds toward operations, facility and equipment maintenance, new engine purchases and increased paid daytime staffing while volunteers are unavailable. Maxwell said that — as of Wednesday’s count — the fire district’s voter turnout was even higher than the county’s 57% response, demonstrating a great overperformance and positive voter engagement. Maxwell said that while the district had taken get-out-the-vote efforts very seriously through community meetings, social media interactivity, coffee shop get-togethers, door-knocking and more, he also understood that economic hardships were a reality for residents who may have needed to “vote with their pocketbooks.”

“I think we put an honest effort into communicating in this situation that there was a need and they answered with their support,” Maxwell said.

Scotts Valley Fire Protection District returned for the second time in two years with a proposed bond measure that would have constructed a new station on district-owned property off of La Madrona Drive, shuttering the less favorably located Erba Lane station. Voter support was about 1% less than the needed two-thirds approval threshold during a special election in November 2023. As of Wednesday, Measure S’s $24.5 million bond measure had reached about 61% of its needed 66.67% approval. Taxpayers would pay about $17 per $100,000 of assessed valuation to generate about $1.9 million annually. Scotts Valley Fire is a largely paid department servicing about 30 square miles and a population of about 22,000 residents.

Scotts Valley Fire Chief Mark Correira said Wednesday that the ballot measure appeared unlikely to pass. Correira said the district’s policy leaders would likely hear recommendations on ways to secure firefighters’ safety at the aging facilities, whether with smaller infrastructure improvements or longer-term efforts assisted by either reserves or outside grant funding. Last year, the Scotts Valley Fire bond measure was alone on the ballot, while this year was filled with revenue measures — possibly a cause of “tax fatigue,” Correira said. Community support, however, remained strongly in support of the project, if not enough to get it over the top, he said.

“We’re all very disappointed,” Correira said. “We put a lot of energy into this and we’ve been out twice now, so it’s going to really create a lot of discussions amongst board members as to next steps in the process.”

Central Fire District Chief Jason Nee on Wednesday described the district’s efforts to pass a $221 million bond general election measure as a thoughtful but “ambitious ask.” However, he said the move was designed to save taxpayers money in the long run, rather than repeatedly returning to voters for piecemeal projects with budgets that grow over time. Measure R, falling more than 10% of the vote behind the two-thirds threshold in early results, would have levied $29 per $100,000 of assessed valuation to generate $11.6 million in revenue annually.

“Disappointed. Not totally shocked because two-thirds is such a high threshold going in,” Nee said of his response to the early vote tallies, which he considered to be a definitive loss.

Nee hoped that a state initiative reducing special district voter passage thresholds to 55% would pass, thereby filtering down for an easier win in the Central Fire District. The revenue would have gone toward modernizing or replacing outdated fire stations, replacing or improving staffing and training areas and acquiring fire apparatus. Central Fire serves more than 90,000 residents across 55 square miles.