The board of supervisors of a county shall determine each year such sum of money as the board of supervisors deems necessary for fire protection services within the county, excluding therefrom any city or district which is at such time providing fire protection services within such city or district. Except for the costs of forest, range, and watershed fire protection within state responsibility areas as defined in Part 2 (commencing with Section 4101) of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, for which the county is not reimbursed by the state, the taxes for the costs of county fire protection services shall be levied only on property within the county served by and benefiting from county fire protection services, or such costs shall be paid from other nonproperty tax revenues collected within the unincorporated area of the county.

Every city or district which provides its own fire protection services, and which prior to March 1 of any year files with the board of supervisors of the county a resolution declaring that such city or district is providing fire protection services within its jurisdiction, shall not be assessed during the following fiscal year and any year thereafter for any portion of the costs of county fire protection services, except for the costs of forest, range, and watershed fire protection within state responsibility areas as defined in Part 2 (commencing with Section 4101) of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, for which the county is not reimbursed by the state.

All property located within a county service area receiving structural fire protection services under Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 25210) of this part shall be exempt from any county tax imposed on property generally to finance structural fire protection, commencing with the 1972–73 fiscal year.

This section shall not apply to a county with a population of more than 1,000,000 but less than 6,000,000 according to the 1960 federal census.

(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 158, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2009.)