BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
A resolution setting the amount of a special fire assessment fee was defeated Aug. 6 by a split vote, 4-1.
The issue is not dead, but most commissioners sided with vocal members of the public requesting more time to ask questions and share information.
Support remains among most commissioners to consider a fire assessment in the future, and an ordinance approved at their prior meeting in July leaves the process for doing so in place.
In the meantime, there was discussion among the dissenting commissioners of workshops with the public to better explain what was being proposed and to answer questions. Commissioner Diane Andrews described these workshops as collaborative discussions with the public in which everyone is looking at the same information.
Resolution dead for now
This initial resolution would have done a lot of things except finalize collection of the fire assessment on annual property tax bills. That would have taken place after a final public hearing in September.
Based on the initial resolution, however, each residential dwelling unit would have been charged $167 a year. This includes residential dwellings on agricultural land, although other agricultural properties are exempt by state law. Mobile home parks pay per rentable lot.
Nonresidential prosperities, including businesses, would have been charged 11 cents per square foot. This includes RV parks where each rentable space represents 500 square feet per state law. Vacant parcels would have each been charged $46.50 per year.
These amounts represent 50% of what the commission could have charged based on the methodology the consultant used to break down the cost of providing fire rescue services within Bradford County. These amounts would have raised 50% of the of the fire department’s budget, or nearly $1.68 million, minus the exemptions.
The resolution included exemptions for faith-based and other nonprofits, government properties (not including properties leased for private use), institutional properties, disabled veterans and low-income households living at or below the federal poverty level.
Veterans who already qualified for a property tax exemption would have automatically qualified for the fire assessment exemption. Poverty exemptions would have been provided to qualified applicants whose properties would be removed from the assessment roll. (Refunds would have been facilitated for those who applied after certification of the assessment roll.)
Starke property owners were also exempt, not from any action by the county commission, but by inaction of the city commission, which never formally considered participation.
This shifted more of the cost burden to residential property owners in other municipalities and unincorporated Bradford County. Residential property owners would have paid nearly 74% of the amount raised for fire rescue services based on the demand from those properties, i.e., calls for service. Nonresidential properties would have paid close to 16%, with the remainder coming from vacant property owners (nonagricultural).
Letters to all affected property owners would have been mailed by Aug. 15 informing them of a public hearing and vote on the final resolution as a special meeting on Sept. 5.
Defeat of the resolution means that mailout and meeting will not take place.
Discussion and decision
There were public comments at the top of the meeting from citizens Carol Mosley and Paul Still asking the commission to slow down and raising questions about what property owners are being asked to pay for.
“Here we are making major decisions affecting the public’s finances without having full information and without the time for such due diligence. Having some public workshops on the matter could have allowed for more information to be discussed and made any conclusion more palatable,” Mosley said.
In addition to questions about the cost of sending trucks to fight fires, she had a problem with charging the same fee to each residence, which she said benefits owners with the most expensive properties.
Still said the commission wasn’t ready to approve the resolution because it was missing information. He suggested the commission hire another consultant to provide additional options for imposing a fire assessment. He also said the board should stop “rubber stamping” the fire rescue budget and make cuts that could reduce taxes.
Commissioner Andrews said she had met with staff including County Manager Scott Kornegay and Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter about costs but found some avenues for cost cutting like modifying work schedules were blocked by the current union contract, which is not up for renewal until 2026. But a lot of work was accomplished on determining the amount of the assessment fee for each category as well as including exemptions for those with limited incomes.
Andrews said, however, she has never suggested budget cuts or station closures that would reduce the level of service.
“I have always recognized the amazing lifesaving job that they do, and nothing has changed,” she said, recognizing the recent retention pond rescue.
But she said until there has been some economic improvement, she couldn’t support asking citizens to pay an additional form of taxation.
“We have paid for our fire services out of the general fund for many years, and until we implement another method, we will continue to pay for the services as we have in the past,” Andrews said.
Commissioner Chris Dougherty agreed people are struggling with a higher cost of living, and he acknowledged people have a lot of questions despite the many public discussions.
“I still think that there’s some time to put those questions together so that we can make sure that what we’re doing is right for the folks in Bradford County to provide that service that we have been providing, again, paying that out of our general fund,” he said.
Dougherty confirmed with the board’s attorney that the ordinance previously approved would still allow the commission to take up the issue of a special assessment at another time. Attorney Rob Bradley compared the ordinance to a tool in the county’s toolbox that could be used next year or beyond. There was some question of whether the county would incur additional consultant costs to keep the figures in the assessment study current.
“I acknowledge that we need some form of assessment to maintain our department,” Commission Chairwoman Carolyn Spooner said. “It was the amount of that and when that should commence. In my opinion, at this time, it was early to do that. And the rate which was recommended in that resolution was not, in my opinion, a viable amount to ask our residents to provide.”
Spooner said the recommended tax rate remains at 10 mills for next year, and to add anything to that was asking too much.
“I concur that we need an assessment, but we don’t have to do that right now,” she said. “The (ordinance) that we passed previously, would allow us to continue the dialogue.”
Commissioner Danny Riddick was the only commissioner to vote in favor of the resolution. He said he didn’t understand why they had the manager bring Stantac back for the assessment study last November if they didn’t intend to move forward this year. After paying at least $60,000 for the study, the commission remains where it was last year, he said. It was the same in 2019 when the commission got to this point and didn’t approve the assessment.
Riddick said they could put off the decision for another year, but at that time the commission will find itself in the same position.
“Sooner or later, you have to pull the trigger and say, ‘We need money for fire and rescue.’ I mean, it’s the Board of County Commissioners (job) to provide adequate fire protection. That’s our job,” he said.
The perception of how much protection is “adequate” depends on your need at the time, Riddick said.
“I guarantee that man, or whoever it was, that was upside down in that vehicle in that retention pond was sure hoping that fire station would be a lot closer to get to him quicker,” he said.
“What I’m saying is we’ve gone through all this, all this money, all this expense, all this headache, and then to walk out of here today and don’t pass nothing. Don’t put nothing in place. I mean, at least put something in place to get the ball rolling forward and to move on,” he said.
Riddick said, like Andrews, he has had the same cost cutting conversations with staff, but even if the fire department budget was cut in half, there would still be no funding for it.
Spooner said they do have an ordinance in place now to implement a fire assessment, but the time to do so has not been agreed upon. The amount remains in question, too.
Dougherty was fine with recovering 50% of the fire budget with a $167 fire assessment. He said with increases in property values, the commission might be able to pass an assessment and lower taxes at the same time next year.
Spooner and Andrews have suggested starting even lower than 50% budget recovery with an assessment around $80 or $90 per dwelling unit.
Andrews shared her vision of open discussions of the information between commissioners, professionals and the public. She also hoped that postelection, the country will enter a healing stage and there will be economic recovery to help take the pressure off people.
She said the public knows the county needs funding, but they need to be involved working with the commission on something they can agree with and afford.
Riddick moved to approve the resolution, and Dougherty seconded the motion for additional brief discussion. In the end, Riddick was the only vote in favor of the resolution.
