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Escambia Won’t Raise Sales Tax To Fund Fire Services This Year, But Will Explore Other Options
June 3, 2022
Escambia County won’t be raising the sales tax this year to fund fire services, but the county commission is still looking at just how they can increase revenue.
Last month, Commissioner Jeff Bergosh floated the idea of asking voters to boost the sales tax rate by a half-penny or three-quarters of a penny. But Thursday, he said that can’t happen this year because it won’t be possible to meet a 180 day notice requirement to place the proposal on the ballot.
“That pretty much kills the sales tax for this year,” Bergosh said. “The next time we would be able to do it would be the general election in 2024.”
Residential property owners in Escambia County pay a MSBU of $125. In May, the county’s budget office presented four options to pay for increased service costs in the form of varying the current fee property tax or a new fire tax based upon property value (MTSU) would make up the difference needed to create at least $6 million in additional revenue to provide necessary funding and reduce subsidies from the general fund.
Bergosh said Thursday that he still believes that ultimately the sales tax is the best route, and he won’t support any property tax increase.
“Everyone uses that service, but it’s the tax paying property owners that have to pay for it,” he said. “People that visit here, wreck their car on the freeway, come to the beach and need assistance — they are not paying. That’s why I really am supportive of the sales tax model.”
County Attorney Alison Rogers said it also too late to implement at MTSU.
“You are really basically out of time. That has to be done and completed by July 1. That has notice requirements,” Rogers told commissioners. But she said increasing the $125 MSBU could be done by a resolution, if the commission votes by it’s next regular meeting on June 16.
“I think it’s more prudent to take at looking at the MSBU, MSTU. That would be done for a short period of time with the intention of look at (the sales tax increase),” Commissioner Steven Barry said, rather than depending on the general fund. “To go back to being more reliant on the general fund, even for a couple of years with an idea of changing that in the future — so sometimes things change on the board and then you end up in a situation where maybe the maybe the current board at that time isn’t receptive to that idea.”
Commissioners decided to explore their options at a workshop meeting on June 9 to decide a direction prior to their June 16 meeting.
Comments
20 Responses to “Escambia Won’t Raise Sales Tax To Fund Fire Services This Year, But Will Explore Other Options”
Raise the Alcohol and Cigarette tax.
@ Reader
Try researching that some more. Since March of last year Uncle Joe has approved and urged municipalities to spend these funds on Public Safety. The article below shows where Tampa bought fire vehicles and renovated fire stations. It is authorized to use these funds for the things I suggested.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/13/fact-sheet-president-biden-issues-call-for-state-and-local-leaders-to-dedicate-more-american-rescue-plan-funding-to-make-our-communities-safer-and-deploy-these-dollars-quickly/
“True it is not a sustainable funding source but it could be used to replace aging and unreliable fire trucks and other vehicles”
Basically, the COVID money could not be used for ordinary expenses, so not fire trucks, ambulances and fire stations
@ reader
True it is not a sustainable funding source but it could be used to replace aging and unreliable fire trucks and other vehicles. It could also be used to build a fire station in Paradise Beach to reduce residents insurance premiums.
As a tax paying resident I agree things like WiFi in the parks is a nice amenity but it shouldn’t trump public safety. Citizens hope they never need the services of police, fire, or EMS but they also have an expectation of competent, courteous, and timely service if they are needed. That’s the responsibility of our local elected officials.
” enjoy your free wifi at the parks”
I do. My family does. Thanks.
The wifi was paid for with rescue plan/COVID money. That can’t directly be used to fund the fire department.
But if you need an ambulance in the park, at least you can enjoy the free wi-fi and google self-help medical advance while you wait an hour for an ambulance. (Which is not the fire department’s fault. Like you said, they will wait with you. Even without extra funding.)
A couple things I noticed..
-the fire department cannot legally collect money for its ems services, only transport ambulances can. It’s a frustrating truth.
-$125 a year is CHEAP, in comparison to most other fire departments it is luxury to only have to pay $125, many city of Pensacola residents are paying close to double if not more depending on their millage rate.
-fire runs Ems calls because of the lack or ambulances ability to respond to their own calls. Fire trucks have been known to wait with low priority patients for upwards of an hour on occasion. It’s not a problem it is a crisis at that point.
-cut back… that would only cost the Tax payer even more money. Homeowners insurance is based on ISO score. The only way for the counties score to go higher than a 4 is to increase manpower, build a training facility, and improve infrastructure, none of which are being done. There are parts of the county that are paying 500% the rate they once paid when Station 20 closed. ISO requires 4 certified full-time firefighters per truck to achieve maximum points. Most trucks are at 3. NFPA requires 4 to enter a fire. So waiting for the next truck costs property through damage. Escambia Fire Rescue is the busiest fire department in total fire volume per capita in the State of Florida.
- enjoy your free wifi at the parks, or your millions over budget commissioner pet projects. It is easy to say Public Safety is a priority. But apparently too difficult to actually mean it.
Lou on June 3rd;
I absolutely support fully funding our first responders with the pay and equipment they need. I think pretty much all of us do.
What many of us are questioning is where the $ will come from, why homeowners seem targeted so often and why there seems to be questionable spending in other areas, which could be used for this?
Most fireman/women; can put on their uniform and say goodbye to their love ones; and never come back home. You all need to think about that. Give them the equipment they need to save lifes, and being able to come back home.
Why does Fire Department has to come to the scene when there is a medical call? This is a huge waste of money. There is an accident, OK, if somebody is injured; there will be an ambulance with doctors to help them. Why does Fire Department need to dispatch a team if there is no fire? And I am not even touching the subject of those calling 911 for a cut in their finger, the folks who never pay for anything they consume.
This seems like the county leaders did not plan for the future when they should have. Now with the gas prices going up and the economy as bad (and it is going to get worse before it gets better), they want to raise fees or taxes. No. You need to determine what you are already spending that is fluff and not needed and cut those items. We keep getting all of our utilities increased and now this? Come on. Raise the bed tax for hotels. The hotel owners just pass that to the tourists. That will grab those extra dollars needed since the tourists don’t pay for protection or services. Cut the fat in the county budget before you starting asking the citizens to pay anymore taxes or fees. Put a committee of us citizens together and we will be happy to do a line item look at what is being spent.
The fire tax was a volunteer $25 per year when I came here 31 years ago. Now look at it. Out of control for seniors
You don’t think the property owner already passes that surcharge to the tenant? $125-120=$5. So by your new “pass the bill along” idea creates more of a deficit. But hey at least your close
The need for additional funding for Fire Services isnt due to the amount of “fire related calls” of service. Its due to the amount of “medical calls” that the Fire Department is responding to each year.
Since the BCC uses the Fire Department as part of its front line for medical assistance, a fee should be billed for those services. Anytime EMS is requested the recipient — or their insurance carrier — should be billed for the service. If the Fire Department is also dispatched, – regardless of whether this is for additional manpower assistance or for initial medical treatment or assessment – than their services should also be billed.
Far too many folks opt to call for non-emergency first aid versus going to the doctor or seeking assistance at their local clinic. If you truly need that medical attention, you should be willing to pay for the care being provided.
@ Terry — have you looked at what the owners of “rental properties” pay in Fire Fees each year? A quick online search on the property appraisers website will show how many units a “rental property” contains. It also has a link to the property tax bill for that address which shows the amount assessed for Fire Protection fees.
A quick review of several of the Condo facilities showed that each owner was billed the same $125.33 for their unit as the average homeowner is billed.
Carriage Hills apartments with 259 units on Michigan Ave paid $32,460 in Fire Fees for 2021 or $125.32 the same as any homeowner.
The Crossings at Milestone and Governor’s Gate each with 240 units also paid $30,079 each in 2021. This equates to $125.32 per unit — the same as any homeowner.
Dont think that owners of rental properties are getting some type of discount of fire protection services and a surcharge needs to be imposed. The owners of rental properties already pay a greater percentage of taxes than most homeowners as they dont receive any tax exemptions.
Where’s all the $ from the 9Mile Rd apartment/condo/strip center development going?
Didn’t seem to have a problem finding $ to raise the County Administrator’s pay. But fire protection?
FD/Public Safety needs to scale back…… like everyone else. The tax payers have the say-so….
IIt seems that every time the county needs more money, the first thought by some of the county commissioners is to raise property taxes. Enough, it is time to start looking for other ways to pay for things. As, I drive around Escambia County, I have noticed that there are a lot of apartments being built. A possible solution to help fund the fire services is to add a surcharge fee on rental properties. It would take some of the burden off the property owners and more people would be paying for the services.
You could add a $10 a month surcharge to the rental. This would be $120 for the year, which would be close to the $125 a year that property owners pay
How much does the BOCC collect now in MSBU fees on property? Compare that with say 5 years ago. Every new house or business building built increases the money collected. Considering the way the building boom has been here in the county, the commission should be rolling in cash. This seems to be more of a mismanagement in spending the taxes collected than we need ever more and more of it. Open the books and show us.
No Barry we don’t want a MSBU increase.