Prop A fails, preliminary results show

The North County Fire Protection District's Proposition A failed to gain the approval of two-thirds of Fallbrook-area voters, according to unofficial results released Wednesday, leaving the future of the 92-year-old district's aging facilities in question.

Proposition A would have authorized a new tax of $5 per month, per parcel of owned property for a 20-year period to pay for construction, maintenance and improvements of fire stations in the North County Fire Protection District over the next two decades.

Final count results turned over Wednesday morning by David Taussig and Associates -- the consultant that was running the vote count for the fire district – showed that approximately 57.5% of the ballots cast were marked "yes," according to North County Fire Protection District spokesman John Choi – short of the required passing rate of 66.67%.

The tax that Proposition A would have authorized, which amounts to $60 per year, was necessary because many of North County Fire's facilities are outdated, with a documented need of at least $26.5 million to meet facility standards, fire officials said of the election.

Seven of NCFPD's 11 facilities – including four of its five fire stations – are nearing or past the end of their originally-intended life span of 50 years, according to a newsletter published ahead of the election. Prop A would have raised about $1 million per year.

Voters had to physically hand in ballots to the fire district's office by Oct. 24 or ensure they were postmarked by that date and received by Oct. 28. The election was handled by North County Fire through a consultant, David Taussig and Associates. The San Diego County Registrar of Voters could not run the election because it is overhauling its voting systems this year, but it would not have automatically been required to oversee the voting process anyway.

Election results were initially expected to be known by Nov. 1, but ballot-counting was delayed by David Taussig and Associates' use of a "comprehensive signature verification" process to ensure all of the votes were legitimate, the fire district said last month.

Formal certification of the vote is scheduled to take place at a special meeting of the district's governing board at 4 p.m. Thursday.

"Although we did not receive the requisite number of votes to pass, we want to thank our community members for supporting us throughout this process," Choi said in an email statement.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].