en en en en it fr en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en
While fire fees might seem like a new idea to some Collier County residents they've become increasingly popular in Florida.
As two referendums are fast approaching Aug. 28 on similar proposals that would allow the North Collier and Immokalee fire districts to collect fire fees to supplement their budgets, many districts, cities and counties have charged the assessments for years.
Broward County and a handful of its cities have levied them including Coconut Creek, Cooper City, Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, North Lauderdale, Parkland, Sunrise and Westland.
Other counties with the assessments in Florida include Sarasota, Alachua and Brevard, which recently raised its fees.
They are commonly charged by local governments in Georgia and Alabama. But the methodologies used for collecting the fee can vary — and several times they've been challenged, but upheld, in court.
Great Recession spurred more fire fees
Some governments in Florida have commissioned studies and considered the fee, only to decide not to levy it.  More of them have looked into the funding option since the recession in the late 2000s, when property values plummeted, causing a huge drop in revenues for fire departments and districts.
The fee is controversial, with opponents often arguing it's a regressive tax that hurts the poor.
Supporters argue the fee is a more equitable and stable funding source to pay for fire protection and prevention. They say the assessment is no different than fees that might be collected for stormwater or solid waste.
Without the fee, Immokalee proponents argue the very existence of their independent fire district may be at stake.
Both the Immokalee and North Collier districts would continue to collect property taxes, but they've promised to lower their tax rates.
Immokalee would charge an additional fee of $369 for a residence, while other buildings would be assessed 40 cents per square foot.
North Collier would collect a flat rate of $254 for a residence. Businesses and institutions would pay a fee based on square footage.
In case you missed it:PAC mentality forms ahead of North Collier fire fee vote
More:Foes of fire fee turn out, but North Collier board OKs it for August ballot
More:North Collier fire district board to vote on fire fee referendum
City and county governments can decide to impose the fire fees with a majority vote, but independent fire districts, like North Collier and Immokalee, are required to get voter approval before they can consider it. That can be a much bigger hurdle to overcome.
Fire fee referendums often fail
Often when the fees go to a referendum, they don't get enough votes to pass, said Erick Vanmalssen, a consulting manager for Stantec in St. Augustine.
His company has dealt with a handful of measures that have made it to a ballot. The last one that did failed because voters worried the amount of the assessment would just keep going up, with no controls put into place, he said.
When Stantec does a fire fee assessment study for a city, county or district, elected boards wind up adopting a fee only half the time, Vanmalssen said.
Still, there are plenty of examples of local governments that have successfully implemented the fees, some not so far away. That includes the city of Cape Coral and the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District.
In 2013, Cape Coral levied a special assessment against all property to help pay for the city-run fire operations. But the two-tiered property tax didn't take effect until a few years later after a lengthy court battle.
The goal of the fee was to diversify the city’s revenue streams, said Connie Barron, a spokeswoman for the city.
Now, about 62 percent of the cost of fire operations comes from the fire assessment and the rest from the general fund, which is primarily funded by property taxes, she said. Next year, that share will increase to 64 percent.
"The council certainly could go higher," Barron said. "It's not the city manager's intent to do that."
The formula for the assessment is a little more complex than the one proposed by the North Collier or Immokalee fire districts: The flat cost for next fiscal year has been proposed at $132.79 and the second tier rate at $2.50.
The second tier, which is only for developed property, is based on the value of the structures and improvements on the property — such as homes and commercial buildings  —  and that gets divided by $5,000. The resulting number is called the “equivalent benefit unit,” or EBU, which is then multiplied by the established rate.
The need for the fee became clear to the city after the housing bubble burst and the Great Recession hit about a decade ago, Barron said.
In case you missed it:Similar fee, different circumstances in Immokalee, N. Collier fire districts
More:North Collier Fire proposal would raise fees for many businesses
A case for fire fees
Cape Coral became the epicenter of the global foreclosure crisis during the recession.
"At one point we had more than $20 billion of taxable value and then when the bottom fell out we dropped to about $8 billion," Barron said. "So that is a significant loss of taxable value and that is why our tax rate had to go up rather significantly because there was such a loss of revenue."
Before the fee was adopted the city's firefighters were borrowing trucks from neighboring fire departments because so many of theirs broke down. Many firefighters fled the city because it couldn't give raises anymore. With more money from the assessments, the city has greatly improved the situation, Barron said.
"We are in the process of building a new fire station now," she said.
The Lehigh Acres fire district began collecting its fire fee in fiscal 2015-16. Voters  approved the assessment in November 2014 — by a vote of 51 percent.
The fire board decided to eliminate ad valorem taxes and charge the assessment fee instead.
The idea for fire fee assessments in Lehigh was sparked by the housing bust and recession, just as it was in Cape Coral.
From 2009 to 2010 alone, the Lehigh Acres fire district saw its revenue from property taxes fall more than 43 percent from $17 million to about $9.6 million, as real estate values plummeted.
"We were facing layoffs, closing two fire stations and losing our ambulance service. We transport. It was something we needed to do," said Robert Dilallo, the fire chief.
If the district went back to its old way of charging ad valorem taxes for its services today, it would still be $2 million below its current budget, although property values have improved, he said.
Here's how the city's fire fee works: The district charges a flat rate of about $304 per home. Commercial properties are charged 36 cents per square foot, industrial warehouse properties pay 6 cents per square foot, and institutional properties are levied 54 cents per square foot.
The assessment for vacant land is nearly $22 per acre, up to a maximum of 10 acres.
Fire fees aren't the only answer
In Alachua County, fire services were temporarily funded by property taxes through a special taxing district, known as a Municipal Service Taxing District. Then county commissioners voted 3-2 to replace it with an assessment in 2017.
The purpose was not to raise more money, but to find a more fair and equitable way to raise the money, said Mark Sexton, the county's communications and legislative affairs director.
"My assessment went up a little bit, but it still seemed a fairer way to do it to me," he said.
He used this example to show how the fee might be more fair: Under the old method, the owner of a mom-and-pop store with a building worth $100,000 sitting on land worth $1 million would pay ad valorem taxes based on the entire property value of $1.1 million, while the amount of the fire fee would be based more on the structure that needs protecting now.
The county's two-tiered fee was projected to raise more than $13 million this year for fire services. County commissioners who voted against it still seem to be on the fence about it and have suggested the county may consider other options in the future.
William Northcutt, chief of Alachua County Fire Rescue, said the assessment pays for 80 percent of the fire department's operations. There are restrictions on what the money can be used for, so it could never cover all costs, and the district still relies on other taxpayer money to keep it running, he explained.
The base rate for the assessment for every parcel is $83.34. On top of that owners pay $7.63 for every $5,000 of building value.
Asked if the fire department gets enough money from all its sources, Northcutt said not in his eyes.
"No we are not sufficiently funded," he said. "We have other needs."
There are pay issues and capital needs, so higher fees or taxes, or new funding sources are needed to catch up and keep up.
"Our pay scales are some of lowest in the state," Northcutt said.
More:Early voting for 2018 primary has begun in Collier
More:Naples Daily News endorsements in the August 2018 primary
Careers Staff Directory Accessibility Site Map Legals Our Ethical Principles Terms of Service Privacy Policy Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy PolicyDo Not Sell My Info / Cookie Policy
Contact Us Support Local Business Advertise Your Business Advertising Terms and Conditions Licensing & Reprints Help Center Subscriber Guide My Account Give Feedback