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Residents across Collier County will face a controversial tax referendum later this year, one that holds implications for critical services, especially in the part of the county east of Naples.
And it has nothing to do with sales tax.
The idea of an increase in the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to fund roads, bridges, parks and other projects is on life support, needing more backing — and quickly — from county commissioners if it is to appear on the November ballot.
But another proposal going largely unnoticed amid the whirlwind debate surrounding the sales tax will appear on the August primary ballot in much of Collier County.
More:Collier sales tax referendum up in the air after second commissioner objects
More:Collier County sends sales tax referendum to November ballot
Voters in the North Collier and Immokalee fire districts will be asked to approve a change in funding formulas that would shift the burden away from residential property owners and toward businesses and “institutions” — mainly nonprofit groups — that had previously paid very little for fire protection.
Commissioners of the Greater Naples Fire District, encompassing East Naples, Golden Gate and part of Golden Gate Estates, have discussed the idea but made no decision on going forward with a referendum. Together, the three districts cover virtually all the unincorporated county.
Under the “non-ad valorem assessment” plan, almost every property in the district would pay a set fee, based on the use. In North Collier, for example, a residence would be assessed $254. In Immokalee, the figure would be $369.
The assessment on commercial, industrial and institutional properties would be calculated on a square-footage basis.
In return, the property tax millage would be reduced. In North Collier, it would go down to 0.5 mill throughout the district. In what used to be the North Naples district, the current property tax rate is 1 mill, or $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. In what was the Big Corkscrew area before the merger with North Naples, the present rate is 3.5 mills.
Depending on a home’s taxable value and current millage, the change would amount to an increased payment for some, a decrease for others and about the same for others.
The owners of high-end residential properties would benefit the most under the new formula. The owner of a $2 million home in North Naples would see a reduction in the annual cost of fire protection from the current $2,000 to $1,254.
The owner of a $500,000 home in the Big Corkscrew region who now pays $1,750 a year would pay only $504.
A $300,000 homeowner in Immokalee now pays $1,125 under the district’s 3.75 mill property tax rate. The new property tax rate of 1.3 mills, coupled with the $369 fee, would yield a payment of $759.
In Immokalee, hundreds of homes with an assessed value so low they fall under the homestead exemption amount of $50,000 now pay nothing to the fire district. Their owners would pay $369 under the plan.
A question on the November 2018 ballot would raise the homestead exemption to $75,000.
Immokalee Fire Chief Michael Choate realizes it will be a hard sell but said the change is critical if the community wants to keep its own fire department.
“I expect people who aren’t paying today to oppose this. Roughly 60 percent of the residents we protect in our district pay no fire protection tax,” Choate said. “Forty percent are funding 100 percent.”
The possibility of an increase in the homestead exemption, and the expiration of a federal grant that funded nine firefighter positions, means the district must tap reserves to make budget, Choate said. That can’t continue.
“We’re looking at trouble,” he predicted.
He hopes the community will accept the change after it’s explained.
“If we have to close our doors, Collier County will come in and run the fire department,”  he said. "I don’t think the citizens want that."
The Immokalee fire board agreed Wednesday to proceed with the question, directing Choate to draft language that will appear on the August ballot.
The North Collier Board followed suit Thursday, voting unanimously to put the question before voters.
North Collier Fire Commissioner Jim Burke was skeptical of the idea at first but said the more he learned about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
“It evens out the peaks and valleys of the economy,” Burke said.
The current reliance on property taxes is subject to fluctuation in the real estate market.
Burke, too, expects there will be initial resistance to the idea. Commissioners and fire district officials need to convince voters, he said.
“I think most residents, once it’s explained, will be more comfortable with it,” Burke said. "It should be our job to explain it to them."
The timeline to do that is tight, especially considering many voters will leave Collier County in the summer.
“All that means is we’ve got to get to work pretty quickly,” Burke said.
Skeptics of the plan already are coming forward.
Marvin Easton, a former IBM executive and a North Collier district watchdog, said the ballot language being proposed doesn’t make clear that the assessment is in addition to a property tax, albeit a lower one.
“If this is not a replacement but an additional tax, you have done a very good job to hide this in the ballot language. Especially without indicating what the ‘equalization’ mill rate will be,” Easton wrote in an email to Burke.
“If you really wanted to eschew obfuscation you may want to consider a rewrite of the ballot language,” he concluded.
Thirty-two counties and 73 cities in Florida already have adopted a fire assessment fee of some sort, according to Government Services Group Inc., a consulting firm that has worked with the local fire districts.
Under the present funding formula, property taxes on residences make up about 87 percent of the North Collier district’s revenue. Under the new formula, that would drop to 68 percent.
Taxes on commercial properties make up 7 percent of the revenue today. That would go to 14 percent. Institutions pay less than 1 percent of the district’s budget today. That would shoot up to 14 percent under an assessment plan, according to GSG’s analysis.
In the North Naples version, “institutions” wouldn’t include schools or churches but would include nonprofit groups, Burke said.
The numbers are based on the percentage of the district’s calls that go to that property type, the GSG study indicates.
For example, 68 percent of calls are to residences, so residences should pay 68 percent of the district budget.
Choate said in the Immokalee version of the plan, churches could be assessed a fee, but commissioners would have the option of exempting them.
If approved by voters, the changes would take effect in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Choate was working in Hardee County when it moved to a similar fee-based funding formula about a decade ago. It met opposition at first, he said, but eventually, “people paid it and moved on.”
Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter @NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten.
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