Big turnout expected at final meeting on fire assessments

By Staff | Aug 24, 2016

A large crowd of Lehigh Acres residents is expected to attend the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District meeting.

The board will decide how much to impose on homes, organizations and parcels with the new fire assessment fees, which will support the fire department and emergency rescue services.

The meeting will be held on Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. in the conference room at the Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Lehigh, at 1320 Business Way.

Voters approved a measure to allow the fire district to switch to an assessment fee type of taxing, replacing the ad valorem tax system that has been used for several years.

The recession has been blamed for the near fiscal disaster the district was facing because of the lowering of property values, including residential and parcels.

The meeting is open to the public; public comment is permitted.

The new assessment fees will begin Oct. 1.

The fees have been controversial. The last meeting drew more than a hundred residents from Presbyterian Homes, which are affordable senior apartments.

The residents, some crying, told the fire board that they would not be able to pay the $25 monthly rent increase that Presbyterian Homes would be charging them as a result of the new assessment fees.

The crowd was so large that many were not allowed into the meeting due to room capacity restrictions. They came on three buses to ask the board to return to the former ad valorem system or to lower the new assessment fees.

According to Richard Pringle, the board’s attorney, affected property owners have a right to file written objections with the district.

The total annual fire protection assessment revenue to be collected by the district is estimated to be $12,337,998 for the new fiscal year, which will run Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2017.

The total annual emergency rescue assessment revenue to be collected is estimated to be $2,232,200 for the same period.

Pringle noted that the assessment for each parcel will be based up on each parcel’s classification and the total number of billing units attributed to that parcel.

As an example, residential property such as homes will be sent an assessment bill for $239 under the present proposal.

Commercial, industrial, warehouse and institutional fees are also included in the plan. Agricultural and vacant property fees will be rated in a use category with the rate per acres of open land, with a minimum of one acre and a maximum of 10 acres at $21.

The board and former fire chief John Wayne spent months holding meetings to explain the fire assessments to residents.

Many have complained that they were unaware of the change.

Copies of the procedural resolution, initial assessment resolution, final assessment resolution, preliminary rate resolution, plat map of the district and preliminary assessment roll for the new fiscal year are available for public inspection.

The documents can be viewed at the Office of the Administrator, at 636 S. Thomas Sherwin Ave., between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Pringle said the assessments will be collected by the county tax collector on the ad valorem tax bill to be mailed in November as authorized by Section 197.3632 of the Florida statutes.

Failure to pay the assessments will cause a tax certificate to be issued against the property, which could result in a loss of the title.

For questions, contact the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District at 239-303-5300 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

People can also visit the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District’s website online at: www.lehighfd.com/.