FORT WALTON BEACH — The city’s staff is considering options to charge an assessment fee to make funding for fire protection more uniform.
The Fort Walton Beach Fire Department’s roughly $3.8 million budget now is funded through property tax revenue. The staff is gathering information on fire assessments to determine whether that would be more efficient.
City Manager Michael Beedie said one of the benefits of a fire assessment is that it would allow the city to spread out the cost of fire services. About 10 percent of the city’s property base — which includes schools, churches, some nonprofits and government facilities — is exempt from paying property taxes.
If the City Council opts for a fire assessment, those property owners would pay assessment fees.
“You would actually be paying for the service that you receive,” Beedie said. “It allows us to spread the cost out in a fair manner for both commercial and those 10 percent of properties who don’t pay ad valorem taxes.”
Commercial buildings likely would be assessed based on their square footage and type of construction, while residential properties would pay a flat fee, Beedie said.
The City Council recently directed its staff to research how other governments with fire assessments collect and oversee them.
If the assessment is placed on property tax bills, Beedie said the collection rate is about 95 percent. However, if the assessment appears on utility bills, the rate typically falls to 60 to 70 percent.
The staff is in the early stages of planning next year’s budget, but a fire assessment will not be ready by the time the fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Fort Walton Beach would reduce its millage rate if an assessment is approved, but Beedie said it was too early to know by how much.
“In a perfect scenario, you implement the fire assessment and then decrease the millage by the same amount, but we’re also looking at the entire budget,” Beedie said. “Right now we’re right in the beginning stages of our budget. The millage would offset a little bit, but I couldn’t say it would be a one-for-one offset right now until we actually start getting into the true numbers.”
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.