Despite fierce opposition at a three-hour public hearing Tuesday night, Sumter County commissioners approved the most expensive of three options for an annual fire services assessment.
Taking effect Oct. 1, the annual assessment rises to $355.58 for homeowners and uses calculations of 21 to 35 cents per square foot for non-residential property. This year’s assessment was $125 per parcel.
The new assessment rates apply only to non-Villagers served by the Sumter County Fire/EMS Department. The Villages Public Safety Department Dependent District set its own annual rates including $320.71 for homeowners.
Last year, commissioners vetoed a fire assessment increase after opposition largely from business owners. This year, they unanimously approved the assessments based on a new study conducted by the same firm as last year.
Commissioner Andrew Bilardello said he supported the assessments, but suggested next year the county use a different firm to calculate them to see if it makes a difference.
After nixing the higher assessments last year, both county fire departments were forced into severe budget cuts when the fire assessment could be raised only $1 to a maximum of $125 per parcel.
Next year is viewed by both departments as a time to catch up and restore lost funding.
Given a choice of three options, commissioners chose the most expensive one that provides the highest level of service. The least expensive option would have required a service decrease.
With three attorneys among those decrying the new rates as unfair and arbitrary during the public hearing, there is a strong possibility that the new rates could be challenged in court.
Representing nine clients including storage businesses, Orlando attorney Jay Christie Wilson pointed out rate differences between The Villages and Sumter County for similar businesses.
He said the fire assessment is $14,500 for a Walmart in The Villages and $64,289 for a Walmart in Bushnell. For two shopping centers of roughly the same square footage, he said the assessments are $5,175 for The Villages center and $28,408 for the one outside.
“There is a disparity here as to what is being applied,” he said.
County Administrator Bradley Arnold said the recommended rates were the result of separate studies for two areas with different demographics. Both departments staff nine fire stations, but the Sumter department covers a wider, less populated geographical area.
Adam Langley, president of the Professional Firefighters of Sumter County, reminded the crowd that firefighters postponed an 8 percent cost-of-living increase to avoid layoffs in this year’s budget.
“The fire department is on the brink of collapse without this funding,” he said. “One hundred percent of the funding goes to support the county fire department.”
Many speakers said they appreciate the work of firefighters and paramedics, but that the county needs to find another way to pay for the department.
Teresa Farrar of Snowbird South Recreational Vehicle Park near Center Hill said the assessment amounts to a 10,000 percent increase for that business. RV parks are assessed at 600-square-feet per site, the minimum size of a mobile home in the county code.
“It’s a transient lifestyle,” Farrar said, adding that sites are largely empty during the summer. “We don’t mind paying taxes on our structures, but not for an empty site.”
Rosanna Broderick said the county has held property taxes down but “just switched the money to another bucket.”
Firefighter Amy Bogue told commissioners the department needs the additional revenue.
“Our current situation is not sustainable,” she said. “Please approve the funding our fire department desperately needs.”
