526 Riverside County Property Owners Will Owe More On Tax Bill

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the Riverside County Fire Department's plan to attach fire mitigation charges to the tax bills of over 500 property owners, whom officials say did not pay the cost of abating weeds and other potential fire hazards around their parcels.

According to the fire department, 526 property owners in unincorporated communities countywide are delinquent and altogether owe a total $359,287 under the county's Fire Hazard Reduction Program.

The amounts, which range from $423 to $6,854 per property, stem from activity in calendar year 2023.

Only one resident, Ed Luna, questioned imposition of the assessments, likening them to a "tax increase."

"Any type of fees applied to a property are considered taxes," he said. "Will the board request a proposition (for voters to approve) this tax increase?"

Board Chairman Chuck Washington disputed the observation, saying the assessments represented the fire department's need for "reimbursement."

"It's not a tax," he told Luna.

The reduction program involves deploying contractors to clear weeds and related overgrowth that might otherwise fuel brush fires during wildfire season, which generally spans May to November.

In most cases, the parcels that were mitigated were vacant or set off from main residences, according to the fire department.

Officials said property owners were served with orders to abate, or mitigate, the potential fire hazards, and when inspectors received no reply or saw that no action had been taken, contractors were sent to the locations under county authority to clear away the excess foliage.

"The purpose of the Fire Hazard Reduction Program is to reduce or eliminate fire hazards created by vegetative growth and the accumulation of combustible debris, which poses a danger to the health, safety and welfare of the residents in the vicinity of any real property," according to an agency statement. "Voluntary compliance is the primary goal of the program. Each parcel owner is provided the opportunity to abate the property prior to the county's conducting the abatement."

Properties in four of the five supervisorial districts were identified by the department as delinquent on payments. They included parcels in unincorporated parts of Corona, Hemet, Murrieta and Riverside, as well as the cities of Banning, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Perris and Temecula, and the communities of Cabazon, Homeland, Juniper Springs, Nuevo, Winchester and Wildomar.

According to agency documents, property owners were billed to recover the county's expenditures, but the fire department received no response. A $254 administrative fee has also been folded into the final bill sent to the proprietors.

The charges will function as tax liens on the properties.