Riverside council to place Measure Z extension and 0.25% sales-tax increase on June ballot to boost fire staffing

Riverside City Council voted unanimously on March 3 to place a ballot measure before voters on June 2 that would extend Measure Z and raise the city sales tax by 0.25 percentage points. City staff and the fire department told the council the revenue is necessary to hire firefighters, reduce critical response delays and pay for new or temporary stations.

City Manager Mike Futrell said the recommendation responded to rising demand and growing wildfire risk. “If we do nothing, the incident of overload and critical overload will continue to rise,” Futrell said, summarizing an AP Triton staffing study that found the city needs 84 additional firefighters to meet response-time standards and recommended a phased plan to add personnel and facilities. Futrell told the council the personnel cost for phase 1 is about $17,440,000 and the bonded repayments for stations would add about…