BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Bradford County commissioners recently expressed a willingness to move its fire crew and equipment out of Lawtey if the county cannot collect an annual fire assessment fee there.
To collect its fire assessment within any city, the governing boards of those cities must adopt an ordinance including the city within the assessment’s benefit unit.
Bradford County Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter announced after a “great” night in Brooker earlier this month that the town council voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance opting-in to the county’s planned fire assessment.
Hampton, too, opted in last year, so with Starke supporting its own fire department, that leaves just Lawtey, which held one reading of the ordinance last year, but never enacted it after the county commission postponed its assessment decision to this year.
Lawtey has advertised consideration of the ordinance for final adoption at its June 2 meeting, but as of his discussion with the commission, Carter couldn’t say the city was on board with the assessment.
When Brooker officials approached the board expressing concern about the amount of the assessment, the future of the town’s coveted fire station was put in question. County commissioners couldn’t see funding additional personnel for Brooker’s station if citizens there were not helping cover that cost.
Carter asked if he should relay the same message when talking to Lawtey officials, and commissioners said yes. Carter said he didn’t want to threaten the city with consequences, but he did question having resources stationed at Lawtey versus Heilbronn Springs where unincorporated residents would be paying the fire assessment.
“I’m also not a fan of moving resources out of an area that has resources,” he said.
“You are going to have to relay to them that we need their participation, and I’m sure you’ll do a good job of that. But it’s important to have their participation so we don’t have to do that, don’t have to move resources, because they need it there, too,” Commissioner Carolyn Spooner said.
“That’s our equipment, and I feel like they should go with and help us out,” Commissioner Kenny Thompson said. “If not, we’ll put equipment in Heilbronn Springs.”
“My hope is that it doesn’t come to that,” Carter said.
“My opinion is the same way it was with Brooker. We need total buy in,” Chairman Danny Riddick said.
Commissioner Chris Dougherty said it is important for both the city of Lawtey and the county to work together to keep the station there because of its proximity to the elementary school and a busy intersection on U.S. 301.
“I think that’s something they should consider, also,” he said.
Commissioner Diane Andrews encouraged further discussion with Lawtey so, like Brooker, they can understand what the county is doing and the role the city plays in that.
Carter said Brooker was different because the county staffing a station there served as an incentive to convince the town council. With Lawtey, there is only the possibility of losing the fire department to sway opinion.
“You’ll never hear me stand up here and advocate closing fire stations,” he said.
“I understand,” Riddick said, “but fair is fair, and what’s right is right.”
Now that Brooker has opted in, Carter will add around $627,000 to next year’s budget to cover the cost. A slimmed-down version of the station will be fast-tracked using the money from the state to build living quarters for the crew. Apparatus will be temporarily parked under a shelter until the town can afford to construct garage bays. No work will begin until the county, as Carter put it, “decides to walk our assessment through the finish line.”
Commissioners are considering setting the fire assessment to raise 50% of the fire department’s budget. So, the residential fee would be $167 per dwelling unit, the commercial fee would be 11 cents per square foot, and the fee for vacant (nonagricultural) lots would be $45.
Carter mentioned the age of the data in discussing the amount of the fire assessment. Since costs have risen since the original calculations, what was said would cover 50% of the department’s budget then might not reach 50% now. On the other hand, there has been residential and commercial growth. The only way to know for certain without funding a new study will be to wait until the checks start coming in.
That will be after tax bills are mailed later this year, if the commission remains on track to approve the fire assessment.
During the discussion, Dougherty had words of caution about the growth of the fire department and its budget versus the growth in the county. The commission has holes in its own budget that need to be filled, he said, and the assessment being discussed will only cover half of the fire department’s needs.
“This is going to grow as the county grows, but this is growing faster than the county is,” he said.
The county’s first public hearing on the fire assessment resolution will be July 1. If the commission votes to move forward, notices of the second and final public hearing will be mailed to all impacted property owners. That hearing and the finalization of the assessment amount will take place Aug. 21.
