Fire Service Assessment
UPDATE:
March 12, 2013: On March 4, 2013, the City Commission voted to impose a special assessment to help fund fire protection services and facilities. The vote came after a public hearing during which the public had the opportunity to speak in support of or against the assessment.
Consideration of the special assessments was necessitated by the threatened downgrading of the City's overall fire rating by Insurance Services, Inc. ("ISO"). An ISO downgrade could potentially lead to significant property insurance premium increases for property owners within the City. ISO standards suggest deployment of four responders to every fire-related call as well as certain training criteria that the City cannot meet given current funding resources.
By correspondence dated October 4, 2012, ISO informed the City that the fire department's staffing levels and training are inadequate and the fire department's public protection classification rating will be downgraded from 6 to 10 unless the City undertakes certain curative actions (including additional personnel hires and training). The threat of retrogression in ISO rating and the resulting increase in insurance premiums for many property owners in the City requires the City Commission to immediately seek a means to fund the corresponding demands on its fire budget.
The special assessment is comprised of two tiers: Tier 1 is based on the relative value of improvements constructed on a property, and Tier 2 is a per parcel charge premised upon maintaining continual readiness to serve fire protection. The City Commission voted to raise approximately $477,000 through adoption of a resolution imposing the assessment at the rate of $0.62 per thousand dollars of improvements for Tier 1, and $88.31 per parcel for Tier 2.
Assessment bills will not be mailed for 90-120 days because the City Commission will first seek validation of its authority to issue revenue bonds secured by the special assessments, the proceeds of which would be used to fund capital infrastructure or equipment such as a new fire truck. The City has initiated the validation proceeding and anticipates mailing the assessment bills once the validation is concluded.
Click here to see the dollar amount of the proposed fire services special assessment attributable to each assessed tax parcel in the City of Springfield.
February 12, 2013: The City of Springfield is establishing a dedicated funding source for the provision of fire protection services and facilities through the imposition of non-ad valorem assessments, sometimes referred to as special assessments, against certain real property located within the City limits. Consideration of special assessments is necessitated by the threatened downgrading of the City's overall fire rating by Insurance Services, Inc. ("ISO"). The consequence of an ISO downgrade likely will lead to significant property insurance premium increases or casualty policy cancelations for property owners within the City. ISO standards suggest deployment of four responders to every fire-related call as well as certain training criteria that the City cannot meet given current funding resources.
By correspondence dated October 4, 2012, ISO informed the City that the fire department's staffing levels and training are inadequate and the fire department's public protection classification rating will be downgraded from 6 to 10 unless the City undertakes certain curative actions (including additional personnel hires and training). The threat of retrogression in ISO rating and the resulting increase in insurance premiums for many property owners in the City requires the City Commission to immediately seek a means to fund the corresponding demands on its fire budget.
The special assessments, as and if approved by the City Commission, will be allocated among assessable tax parcels according to a two tiered methodology pursuant to which a portion of the costs attributable to the City’s continual readiness to provide fire protections services will be shared equally among all tax parcels on a per tax parcel basis (Tier 2), and a portion of the remaining costs will be shared in accordance with the relative value of improvements (not land) for each tax parcel in the City as compared to the value of improvements for all tax parcels in the City (Tier 1).
As part of this process, a public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. on March 4, 2013 in Commission Chambers at City Hall, 3529 E 3rd St., Springfield, Florida 32401 to receive public comment on the proposed special assessments. All affected property owners have a right to appear at the hearing and to file written comments or objections with the City before or during the hearing. Click here to see a copy of the published notice of the public hearing.
The City Commission is cognizant that any system, metric or analytical view of appraising benefits or assessing costs will be open to some criticism or suggestion of alternative methods or approaches, and has labored to educate itself as to the facts, analysis, law and policy latitudes available to it in determining the proposed dollar amount of the assessment attributed to each tax parcel.
The contemplated special assessment offers a reasoned approach for cost sharing premised upon two distinct tiers or classes of assessment allocations: Tier 1 – a sharing of benefits, burdens and costs for budgeted fire protection services and facilities based upon the relative value of improvements for each tax parcel in the City as compared to the value of improvements for all tax parcels in the City; and, Tier 2 – a sharing of benefits, burdens and costs for budgeted fire protection services and facilities on a per tax parcel allocation premised upon maintaining a continual state of preparedness and readiness to serve. Each tax parcel within the City is already uniquely identified and assigned improvement values by the County Property Appraiser using a parcel identification or folio number.
The special assessment will fund in part the costs associated with providing fire protection services and facilities each year. The remainder of the fire protection budget will be funded with other legally available revenues of the City. The combination of funding sources offers a significant tax equity tool which will reduce dependence on the City's general fund alone as the sole source of funding for fire protection services, reduce the demand on the City's other legally available funds, and is intended to achieve a more equitable, balanced, sustainable and dedicated means of funding the City Fire Department's service mission over time.
The availability of a special assessment is but a single aspect of the annual budgetary process. A fire service assessment provides an equity tool to pay for costs that might otherwise be paid for with legally available general funds or the imposition of property taxes. The fire assessments are an equitable alternative to the use of property taxes. Whether, and to what extent, fire service assessment revenues are used is a part of the overall annual budget process each year. The fire service assessment is a means to create an annual funding source to deal with the service and funding shortfall identified by ISO.
The special assessment is an annual assessment which will continue from year to year. For the current fiscal year, any assessment will be billed directly by the City to the property owner at the address shown on the records maintained by the County Tax Collector. In future fiscal years, the assessment may be collected pursuant to the tax bill collection method authorized by Section 197.3632, Florida Statutes, in which case the annual assessment will include fees imposed by the County Property Appraiser and Tax Collector and will be adjusted as necessary to account for any statutory discounts which are necessitated when employing the efficiencies of collecting the assessments annually on the same bill as property taxes which equal about 8%.
If approved by City Commission at the conclusion of the public hearing, the special assessment for each tax parcel will equal the sum of (i) $0.62 per $1,000 of the value of improvements (not land value) attributed to the tax parcel by the County Property Appraiser's records (Tier 1) plus (ii) $88.31 per tax parcel (Tier 2), together with a share of administration and collections costs associated with annual assessment. The dollar amount of the proposed special assessment attributable to each tax parcel is available by clicking here or by visiting the offices of the City Clerk (to view this same information on a computer terminal), located at City Hall, 3529 E 3rd St., Springfield, Florida 32401.
The City does not intend to impose assessments against schools, governmentally-owned property, churches or similarly owned parcels, or on submerged or other parcels determined to be exempted. The costs of these exemptions are to be paid from legally available sources other than the special assessments.
This overview is intended to inform all constituents about the City's efforts to effectively budget and use a blend of legally available revenues to meet its fire service obligations, reduce costs, be efficient and continue to provide a reasonable level of service. The mission of the City's Fire Department is to stand ready to protect the lives and property of the community through exemplary fire education, prevention, suppression and associated emergency rescue services. This special assessment provides a supplemental and dedicated means to accomplish these responsibilities, and meet the October 4, 2012 actuarial rating requirements of Insurance Services, Inc.
