Five years after the Measure R sales tax was approved by the voters, generating $3.7 million a year in revenue in order to reduce the threat of wildfire in Orinda, the danger remains extreme.

 

According to the latest data from the State’s “insurer-of-last-resort”, FAIR, 2,617 residences in Orinda were covered by the FAIR plan as of 9/30/25. That is over 35% of Orinda residences. And the number has drastically increased over the years Measure R has been in effect.

 

The voters agreed to give the city almost $4 million a year to address wildfire risk. At the SSTOC’s first meeting, Mayor Worth told the commission that it should focus mainly on wildfire prevention for the next five years. Instead, the funds that have been spent have been mainly on infrastructure with a lot of money not spent at all.

 

The city, after five years, still has no measure of what the risk is or whether it is being reduced or increasing. The number of residences losing insurance is definitely increasing.

 

The current grant programs are, at best, tiny band aids. The City cannot expect 7,000 private property owners to “solve” a problem of this magnitude and nature, where everyone’s risk affects everyone else. The voters knew this. They gave the government money to “take over”. Instead, it has taken their money and handed the problem back to them.

 

Orinda needs to rethink what it is doing.

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