Special assessments explained
Special to the Times
At its regular November meeting, the Union County Board of County Commissioners reviewed a report prepared by Union County Property Appraiser Bruce Dukes, detailing the funds collected by the county from the special assessments for rescue and garbage services that all property owners pay with their ad valorem taxes.
All property owners are assessed the same fee for rescue services, $70 each. Residential classes include single-family ($2,065), mobile homes ($2,235), and multi-family residences ($7,770) (i.e., apartments, duplexes, etc.). The total of these is $308,700, all of which is used to fund rescue services. Residential property owners also pay the same amount for garbage services, for the same total of $308,700. The total special assessments paid by residential property owners is $617,400.
Rates for commercial garbage services are a little different as businesses are charged by classes. Commercial garbage class one included the smallest business that do not have a great deal of waste, such as business offices. The businesses pay $65 each (there are 24 such businesses in Union County). Commercial garbage class two businesses produce a little more garbage than those in class one and pay a little more as well, $85. Class three businesses are businesses such as restaurants, which produce other wastes as well as paper products. They are charged $110. Class four businesses are most often very large and/or are involved in manufacturing. Class four businesses pay $130. These funds pay towards the operation of the county solid waste department and all of the collection sites.
Both services paid for by the assessments also receive funding from the county to operated, although both solid waste and rescue both derive income from other sources as well – solid waste from recycling and dumpster rentals and rescue from insurance payments for transport, as well as transports paid for by Lake Butler Hospital and the prisons. Both departments are working towards becoming self-sufficient, supporting themselves through the assessments and the income they take in, eventually greatly reducing the funds currently taken from the county.
