LOS ANGELES, CA – Pasadena voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve Measure PFD, a special parcel tax of 19 cents per square foot of improved property that would raise an estimated $22.1 million a year for the Pasadena Fire Department, according to the city’s Measure PFD page.
The city says the tax would come to about $304 a year for a 1,600-square-foot home. The measure, officially the Pasadena 911 Firefighter/Paramedic Emergency Medical/Wildfire Preparedness/Response Measure, requires approval from two-thirds of voters and would expire after 14 years.
The city says the measure has no annual cost-of-living increase, exempts qualified low-income seniors and requires independent audits and public disclosure. Supporters and opponents have been campaigning in the weeks before Election Day, including over how the city has presented the measure to community groups.
What the money would pay for
The city’s page says the measure would provide funding that “may be used for fire station improvements, emergency response equipment, wildfire preparedness and brush clearance.” The page lists the seismic retrofits of Stations 33 and 37 and a training center among the projects.
The city plans to use the money to add a battalion chief, demolish and rebuild Fire Stations 33 and 37, build a training center and an additional fire station, buy another ladder truck and two more ambulances, and hire 36 more firefighters.
The city’s Measure PFD fact sheet puts the cost of rebuilding Station 33 at about $30.5 million and Station 37 at about $34.0 million. A new fire station is listed at about $37.8 million.
Chief Chad Augustin has said the revenue would also support year-round brush clearance in government-owned common areas. That work is now handled by Pasadena Parks and Recreation, which has funding to do it for only part of the year, he said.
How the tax would work
The tax would apply to improved property, meaning it is calculated on building square footage rather than on assessed value. At 19 cents per square foot, the cost rises or falls with the size of the property.
The measure would be a special tax, which means the revenue goes to a dedicated fund instead of the city’s general fund. That is why it needs a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority.
The city’s Oct. 15 newsletter says that after the authorized 14-year funding period, the parcel tax would automatically sunset unless voters choose to approve an extension.
The City Council has also called for annual independent audits, public reporting and project monitoring “to ensure these improvements remain on track,” according to the city’s Aug. 6 newsletter.
Council placed the measure on the ballot Aug. 3
The same newsletter says the council voted Aug. 3 to place the measure on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot, giving voters the chance to decide whether to establish dedicated local funding for fire protection, paramedic services, wildfire preparedness and emergency response.
The vote is recorded in the City Council’s Aug. 3 minutes. Councilmember Hampton abstained, and the rest of the council backed putting the measure before voters.
Mayor Victor Gordo said at the meeting that the new property tax would fill a desperate need for funding to maintain the level of service the Fire Department provides.
The City Attorney’s impartial analysis of the measure is published on the Fire Department’s site as the Measure PFD impartial analysis. A city FAQ on the measure is posted alongside it.
Eight stations and 51 sworn personnel on duty daily
The Fire Department’s operations page says that under the Deputy Fire Chief of Operations “there are 51 sworn personnel who staff 8 fire stations across the city.” Fire Operations responds to daily emergencies “with 8 engines, 2 Trucks and 6 Rescue Ambulances,” the page says.
Augustin has said many of the city’s fire stations were built in the 1950s and that 911 call volume has increased tenfold since then. Part of the increase is because the department now handles medical calls that a separate emergency center once fielded.
He said calls have also grown more complex, with reports of hazardous materials and widespread brush fires threatening a larger number of people who live next to wildlands.
Raffy Bitchakdjian, president of the Pasadena Firefighters Assn. 809, said the department has long wanted its own training center. Firefighters now train at a makeshift center in a shuttered elementary school. For certain technical training, such as live fire exercises, they travel to neighboring cities including Glendale and Alhambra and as far as Santa Fe Springs, he said.
When an emergency happens, that distance means it takes firefighters longer to leave training and return to Pasadena, Bitchakdjian said. “We’re not asking for more to do less,” he said. “We’re just asking to keep up with the demand.”
Eaton fire shaped the plan
Augustin has said the Eaton fire in neighboring Altadena served as a wake-up call for city leaders. Afterward, Gordo and the City Council asked him to draw up a plan for a more fire-ready Pasadena.
CAL FIRE’s Eaton Fire incident page lists the fire, which started Jan. 7, 2025, at 14,021 acres and 100% contained as of Jan. 31, 2025. The agency lists 19 confirmed civilian fatalities and 9,419 structures destroyed.
Bitchakdjian said the department analyzed its dispatch records and saw a clear need for more resources. He said officials also concluded that Stations 33 and 37, which were known to need seismic retrofits, were in such poor condition that they should be torn down and rebuilt.
Who supports the measure
Supporters include Gordo, the City Council, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena. The Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals also back it.
The Pasadena Firefighters Assn. is the measure’s biggest financial supporter.
Barger said in a statement through the Yes on Pasadena Measure PFD campaign that Pasadena has fewer firefighters than it did 75 years ago but ten times more 911 calls. She said the measure keeps Pasadena stations open and puts more firefighters and paramedics in them.
Who opposes it and why
The No on Measure PFD campaign is funded primarily by the California Assn. of Realtors and the International Assn. of Realtors. The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles also opposes the measure, as does former Mayor William Paparian.
Daniel Yukelson, the apartment association’s executive director, said Pasadena rental property owners are already subject to strict rent control standards, which leaves them few options to recoup the added costs. He said it is unfair for the burden to fall solely on property owners, even though everyone who lives in or visits the city benefits from emergency services.
Yukelson said the city should fund the department’s priorities through the general fund, cutting costs elsewhere if needed. “It’s important to make sure you have the utmost in public safety; I just disagree with how the funds are being raised,” he said.
Paparian has pointed out that voters approved Measure I in 2018, which permanently raised the sales tax by 0.75% to fund general city services including fire and emergency services. He has argued that the city spent only a small portion of the resulting money on repairs and maintenance of Stations 33 and 37 instead of replacing them. Those figures are his, not an official count.
Dispute over the city’s presentations
On Sept. 23, the City Manager’s Office announced that Augustin and city staff are available to present to neighborhood associations, homeowners’ groups, business organizations, service clubs and other community groups, according to the city’s announcement. The presentations cover the department’s operational needs, an overview of Measure PFD and questions from participants.
The Fire Department’s page says the presentation will “provide factual information about the Fire Department’s current and future operational needs, outline the contents of Measure PFD, and address questions from participants.”
The No campaign says the sessions are effectively campaign events. In a news release, it said they focus on “everything that supposedly won’t happen” if the measure fails. Matt Klink, a consultant for the campaign, said the city has turned the Fire Department into the grassroots campaign arm for the Yes campaign.
Augustin disputed that. He said he has provided only factual information so residents can understand their choices. “That, in my mind, is education, not advocacy,” he said.
The Yes campaign has made its own accusation. It says the No campaign ran a digital ad and used website language suggesting that local firefighters do not support the measure. Bitchakdjian said no Pasadena firefighters support a no vote and called the use of the firefighters’ name and likeness deceptive.
Vote is Nov. 3
Measure PFD appears on the Nov. 3 ballot and needs two-thirds of the votes cast to pass. If it passes, the tax would run for 14 years and then sunset unless voters approve an extension.
