Hughson Fire and the City of Hughson
Thinking back to the proposed fire tax that the Hughson Fire Protection District (HFPD) tried to get the citizens of Hughson to pass last year sure does make you think it might have been a good thing if everyone would have voted yes. The Modesto Bee had a front page article about the City of Hughson’s report that they paid for to look into all aspects of the Fire Department. In the Bee’s article they quoted the report stating:
“The Hughson Fire Protection District is underfinanced, understaffed, undertrained and … not able to provide an adequate level of service to the city of Hughson at this time”
If the findings are truly correct, the Fire District is falling down in many major areas when it comes to protecting the citizens of the HFPD. It does sound like the district is disputing the report in many areas though. At Monday nights City Council meeting, the city council counted ballots and then formally voted to form a City of Hughson Fire Assessment District. Asked what the fees would be, the city council stated that they only created the assessment district and the fees will be determined at a later date.
The council was then asked if the fire Department/District would be receiving the assessment fee and the answer was no. So it is not clear what exactly the city is planning for the assessment district money that it produces. Maybe the city has an idea to create a new Fire Department for the city, who knows. In the mean time, the new report just released has opened a big can of worms. If you have any comments or a story you would like to share regarding the HFPD and/or the City of Hughson, please do so.