{"id":42921,"date":"2019-05-16T19:42:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T23:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=42921"},"modified":"2019-05-16T19:42:47","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T23:42:47","slug":"fire-district-on-fire-assessment-proposal-little-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/05\/fire-district-on-fire-assessment-proposal-little-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire District on fire assessment proposal little Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: What is the ballot language for the June 4 Lehigh\nAcres Fire District Special Election?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding Lehigh Acres Fire District Services, Administration,\nand Capital with Non Ad Valorem Property<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: As an alternative to ad valorem taxes, may Lehigh\nAcres Fire District annually levy non ad valorem assessments beginning fiscal\nyear 2020 to fund fire protection, rescue, emergency medical services,\nadministration, governance and associated capital not exceeding $165.00 per\nparcel plus $1.00 per $1,000 of value of improvements thereon using property\nappraiser data, together with identified administrative costs and statutory\ndiscounts, with increases limited by growth in Florida personal income over the\nprevious 5 years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

__ Yes __ No<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: What is the current standard used by Lehigh Acres\nFire Control and Rescue District to assess properties including undeveloped\nlots?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: The District collects its revenue from non-ad\nvalorem assessments instead of ad valorem taxes. The current assessment program\nis based upon an assessment methodology report prepared for the District around\n2015 and uses different assessment rates depending upon the use of each parcel\nand the square foot size of the improvements on each parcel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: How long has this been the standard for fire\nassessments?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: The current assessment program took effect in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: What changes is the District looking to make?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: The District is considering a more equitable option\nwith a base assessment rate plus a separate assessment rate for improvements on\nimproved parcels. The expectation is that the range between the lowest and\nhighest assessment rates will come closer together so that there will be a\nsmaller difference (less disparity) between assessments on improved land and on\nvacant lots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Why does the District want to change it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: Many citizens have requested a more equitable\nassessment for improved and unimproved parcels. The current assessment\nmethodology report was based on conditions in 2015 when the District’s\noperating expenses were artificially low, due to the economic downturn. In\norder to pay its operating expenses, the District obtained concessions from employees,\nimplemented work force reductions and other cost reductions in District\noperations. As a result, the 2015 assessment methodology does not and will not\ncover the costs of present and future District services. The District should\nhave already opened a sixth fire station in the northwest part of the District.\nThere were a number of very damaging brush fires several years ago; however,\nthe District cannot afford to hire personnel to staff a new fire station under\nthe current assessment revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: When would the change take effect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: A new assessment methodology could possibly take\neffect for the 2019-2020 fiscal year of the District, which begins October 1,\n2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: What say in this does the public have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: There are statutory requirements for two public hearings,\nusually held in August and September, when the public can voice their opinions\nabout the current and proposed assessment rates (or ad valorem taxes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: How much total revenue does the district receive\nthrough the existing methodology? How much revenue will the district receive\nthrough the methodology proposed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: In 2018\/19, the district received approximately\n$15,424,000 through the existing demand-based (GSG) method of assessment from\nall eligible parcels. This amount included collection costs, Tax Collector’s\nfee and fees associated with 4% statutory discount for early payment. For example,\na single-family home with one dwelling unit would have been assessed $332.15,\nwhich included $14.74 for other costs, (the collection cost, the Tax\nCollector’s charge and fees associated with the 4% statutory discount for early\npayment.) The resulting net revenue from each single-family parcel with one\ndwelling unit was $317.41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the proposed simplified method is chosen by the voters,\nthe projected net revenue from fire assessments would be approximately\n$25,000,000. This amount does not include collection costs, Tax Collector’s\ncharges and fees associated with 4% statutory discount for early payment, which\nwould be added to achieve the total NAV assessment amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you see the charge using the new method is about the\nsame or a little less for homes, and less for many businesses, but will raise\nthe $8-10 million shortfall the District suffers from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: What would be the projected cost difference for\nthe average homeowner? For the owner of a standard undeveloped residential\nbuilding lot? For the owner of a one-acre parcel zoned for non-residential\ndevelopment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANSWER: Sorry, but that is an apples to oranges comparison.\nThe proportionality is achieved by looking at the parcel, not the acreage, for\nALL parcels; AND looking at the amount of improvements on the improved parcels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owner of one parcel, regardless of size or zoning, would\nbe assessed $165.00 because the predominant cost to the District is being ready\nand having service available to ALL parcels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change in paradigm is that the focus is on what it costs the District to be ready and available all the time instead of looking backward and trying to assign actual calls made in a wide variety of circumstances to a wide variety of property uses. The demand-based method may be legal, but it has not proven adequate, and the Fire Commission has heard that it is viewed as disproportionate as to unimproved parcels since inception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

QUESTION: What is the ballot language for the June 4 Lehigh Acres Fire District Special Election? Funding Lehigh Acres Fire District Services, Administration, and Capital with Non Ad Valorem Property… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}