BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
Bradford County commissioners took a first step last week to creating new special assessments for firefighting and emergency medical services.
During their final meeting of 2023, commissioners approved a resolution stating their intent to collect the assessments beginning when tax bills go out in fall 2024. If approved, the new assessments would join the recently increased solid waste assessment paid by all owners of improved property.
The assessment amounts have not been announced. Consultants with Bryant Miller Olive who conducted the previous analysis in 2019 were brought back to update it. Combined, the fire and EMS assessments from 2019 were more than $300 for residential properties.
The commission changed course following public reaction.
To be clear, the resolution approved Dec. 21 does not impose any new fee. It just declares the commission’s intent to do so, with the stated reason being to fund firefighting and EMS services.
The resolution is a step required by Florida statute, which also requires the commission to notify each affected property owner by mail and hold a public hearing before actually approving the new special assessments.
The county chose the quietest way possible to pass the resolution of intent. It was placed on the consent agenda and approved alongside a loan modification agreement for the SHIP housing program. The resolution was not read by title, and there was no discussion by the board.
According to County Manager Scott Kornegay, the resolution was a purely administrative, which is why it was placed on the consent agenda. He was unaware of any Florida law requiring a public hearing on the resolution with four weeks of published public notice. After consulting with the county attorney, he said they agreed that no statutory requirements had been defied. The attorney, he said, was drafting an explanation. That was not available as of press time.
The resolution approved by the board did include the legal boundaries of the county as required by law. It also included a “proof of publication” claiming that a public hearing on the resolution would take place Dec. 5 and had been advertised four times during November. There was no advertisement or public hearing, even though the resolution explicitly states there had been.
The proof of publication was also submitted to the county manager to help clarify the procedural confusion.
No other choice?
The last time the county commission considered adding the assessments was after beginning a paid fire department. Commissioners didn’t follow through and have since paid for both firefighting and EMS with a combination of COVID dollars reserve spending and some budget cutting. They also raised property taxes to 10 mills.
Multiple times, commissioners have expressed that if they are ever going to reduce property taxes and balance the budget, they will need to find other revenue sources to help pay for these services. They unsuccessfully went after electric franchise fees, which leaves impact fees on new development and special assessments.
The fees in the previous study were based on a fire department budget of $1.4 million in 2020 growing to $2.68 million by 2024, and an EMS budget of $2.46 million growing to $3.52 million. Each residential dwelling unit would have paid $306. Commercial and nonresidential structures would have paid 40 cents per square foot.
Public opposition was strong, and rather than opt for approval, there was talk about holding a voter referendum where a fire assessment had failed before. The only action taken was by the fire chief and several firefighters who resigned as a show of no confidence in the board or county manager at the time.
Talk about the need for the assessments to balance the budget never went away, however. The only thing that has changed is oversight of the services, which went from the manager to the sheriff and back to the manager, and the consolidation of the services into Bradford County Fire Rescue.
In the budget approved for 2024 at $9.15 million, only $3.56 million is covered by ambulance service charges. Grants and cash forward account for another $1.87 million, which leaves around $3.7 million to raise from 9,000 households, plus businesses and other affected properties.
The consultant’s analysis can only advice commissioners how to do that. It will be up to them to decide whether they move forward this time.
