City backs fees for fire protection, street lights
By MELIA BOWIE
Published May 22, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - The City Council is going ahead with a compromise plan that would charge homeowners and nonprofits for fire protection and street lights.
Council members late Tuesday night approved a proposal that still enables the city to collect 100 percent of the money it spends annually on street lights - estimated to be $203,000. A typical homeowner would pay $22.67 a year, or $1.89 a month.
But changes adopted during Tuesday night's meeting also tentatively reduce the tax millage rate from 6.25 to 5.75 and cut the fire fee recovery amount to 50 percent, or roughly $928,000. Homeowners would pay $96 a year, or $8 a month.
Initially, a 100 percent fire recovery rate totaling more than $1.9-million was presented by Jacksonville Beach consultant Burton & Associates.
The new proposal scraps an earlier version of the fee program and represents a compromise of sorts between council members Ginny Miller and Bob Langford, who wanted to drop the idea of fees entirely, and members Tom Finn and Scott Chittum and Mayor Frank Parker, who cited a need to raise revenue in New Port Richey.
"I think ultimately this is the most antiredevelopment thing we could do in the city," Miller said, speaking out against the fees. "It says come in here and get taxed to death. We can do this (raise revenue) without stigmatizing the whole city."
But something needs to be done, council members agreed. New Port Richey is facing rising personnel costs and fewer state dollars, a major redevelopment effort is under way, and the city's largest employer, Community Hospital, is leaving along with Morton Plant North Bay Hospital.
The vote to implement tentative fire and street light charges enables city staff to prepare new fee assesment rolls by a June deadline.
The fees affect property owners from churches to charities like the Red Cross. Nonprofit operations ranging from nursing homes to the chamber of commerce would also pay. Only schools are exempt.
A final ordinance would not come until Sept. 2.
In the meantime, council members will study a menu of options that allows them to play with millage and recovery rates. They could also opt to kill the idea altogether during the summer budgeting process.
"This doesn't mean we're going to do it," Parker said of the assessments. "It means we have the flexibility to use it if need be."
But the idea of charging for street lights and fire protection has caught some by surprise.
From residents to religious leaders, many expressed concern with a plan they say will burden homeowners on fixed incomes and charge agencies that can ill afford it.
"It's kind of caught me a little blindsided," said Pastor David Busek of First Christian Church of New Port Richey. "They're asking us to pay for something that's already in existence."
The American Heart Association, which owns an 1,800-square-foot office on Congress Street, said such a fee would certainly distinguish New Port Richey.
Chris Ballestra, vice president of facility operations for the AHA based in St. Petersburg, said out of 20 sites he manages statewide, "we don't have any where we have a dedicated fire surcharge."
Fee money would fund city services and items including pay raises for public safety personnel.
The cost to businesses, nonprofits and churches could vary widely depending on a number of factors such as building size or the amount of 911 calls an address generates.
City officials said they have been studying the fees, in part, as a way to avoid raising taxes. Without the fees - and without using reserves or increase in the general fund budget for fiscal year 2003-04 - the city would need to raise the millage to 7.40 just to balance the budget, city finance director Rick Snyder advised.
Busek said his church on River Road is located on several acres and is composed of two large buildings but "just because we have large buildings doesn't mean we have a lot of revenue."
- Melia Bowie covers the city of New Port Richey. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6229. Her e-mail address is bowie@sptimes.com
