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Letter to the editor

Public to ponder taxes, fire service

A meeting Thursday will also address Pinellas Park water district taxes.

By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
Published October 17, 2007

A task force of county, city and fire officials has spent four months wrangling over a way to handle the effect of annexation on the Lealman fire department budget.

Big issues are still unresolved. Nevertheless, it's time for the taxpayers to weigh in on the task force's accomplishments.

A public hearing is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at Dixie Hollins High School, 4940 62nd St. N, in the unincorporated Lealman area on the western edge of Kenneth City. The first half of the hearing will be devoted to the Lealman fire issue.

The second half will be dedicated to the Pinellas Park Water Management District. State Rep. Janet Long, D-Seminole, asked that the district be included on the agenda because she has heard from residents of both the Bayou Club and Lealman who object to paying water management taxes.

First up is the fire district budget. It might seem pointless to ask taxpayers to comment when, as of early Tuesday, there were no firm deals on the table, but the task force is running out of time. The group, which was created by the Legislature, has to provide a report of its progress to the Pinellas County Legislative Delegation by Nov. 1 - just 14 days away.

If the task force cannot come up with a solution to the fire issue, the Legislature plans to solve it during next year's session. With hundreds of thousands of property tax dollars at stake, none of the parties want to rely on the Legislature's whims.

The issue is simple to frame: When cities annex parts of the Lealman area, the property taxes that went to the fire district are transferred to city coffers. Yet the district must still maintain staffing even as its budget shrinks because, in some cases, Lealman remains the first responder to those annexed properties.

To offset the shrinking budget, Lealman has to increase the taxes of the property owners who were not annexed. The fire district wants to be paid what it costs to maintain first-response service to the annexed areas.

That's where matters get complicated. Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg, which want to annex parts of Lealman, do not want to pay Lealman a dime for the service. However, both have agreed that they will pay Lealman something for continuing to serve annexed properties.

The issue is how much and for how long. In both cases, the cities have offered to pay less than it costs Lealman to provide the service. That leaves Lealman in the red on those properties and the money will have to be made up elsewhere - most likely from the Lealman property owners.

For the 40,000-plus Lealman residents, it's as if they are selling widgets for $1 apiece when it really costs $3 apiece to make them.

Lealman fire officials are willing to take Pinellas Park's offer but have balked at St. Petersburg's offer. St. Petersburg wants to pay less than Pinellas Park has offered, and also wants to reduce that amount as the years go by.

The parties seem to have agreed that the contract between them will last for 15 years. At some point before the end of the contract, Lealman voters would have a chance to decide if they want to keep the fire district alive or have the county take over fire service in their area.

Annexation is at the heart of the problem, but annexation is not on the table yet.

Establishing no-annexation zones or other guidelines and limitations on annexation will come from another task force. Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch said that one would "soon" be appointed.

But because the issue of annexation and the fire budget are so intertwined, it has been hard for members of the public, and negotiators, to separate the two. As late as Monday afternoon, fire district negotiators tried to establish a no-annexation zone in Lealman. Welch stopped it.

The task force, and the first half of Thursday's public meeting, will deal only with the effects of annexation on the Lealman fire budget.

Whether annexation actually occurs in Lealman is an issue for another day, Welch said.

Fast facts

The task force, its progress and goals

The Legislature appointed a task force to try to resolve the financial impact of annexation on the Lealman Fire District budget. Voting members of the task force are the Lealman Fire District, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. Also on the task force but with no vote are Seminole and Kenneth City. Kenneth City already has a contract with Lealman for fire service at a cost less than Lealman residents pay. The other cities are trying to negotiate deals with Lealman. Here are the general outlines of the negotiations. As of early Tuesday, no firm agreements had been reached, but negotiators plan to meet again today.

Pinellas Park

- Lealman must drop a lawsuit alleging that Pinellas Park owes it back tax money for prior annexations.

- Lealman must agree that it will not lobby for a law that will undercut any agreement reached by task force members. If Lealman does so, it will have to pay damages to the city.

- The agreement will last for 15 years and in the 14th year, the fire district will hold a referendum asking if Lealman voters want to maintain the district.

- Pinellas Park would pay Lealman to maintain first response fire service to properties annexed out of its fire district during the term of the agreement. The rate would be at the same millage as the county pays Pinellas Park for covering part of the unincorporated area. This amount would vary each year - this year it is an estimated 2.1752 mills. Lealman's millage for this 2007-08 fiscal year is 3.6927 mills.

- St. Petersburg and Lealman must also reach an agreement.

[Last modified October 16, 2007, 22:50:30]