TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Fire Assessments Will Hit Churches Hard

ADVERTISEMENT

By Rev. MICHAEL C. KARL Guest Column

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 21, 2008

I oppose the fire tax assessment bill. I've run the New Testament Church and Mission for 32 years. In those years I have only needed to call the fire department once, which was found to be arson.

We have never received any funds from the federal government, state of Florida, county commissioners, or the city council. Also, we have never applied for any grants, which come from tax money. Many people today believe that grants are free and nobody has to pay for them. Well, they are misled.

The reason we do not receive government funding is because we are able to minister and preach the gospel to all who come to the mission, because we are not controlled by the government. In many government agencies you are not allowed to talk about religion. At the mission we have the freedom of religion.

When we need to call for an ambulance for a person who has passed out because of drugs or seizures, we ask only for the EMS to respond. However, the fire department, EMS and police department arrive. Now you want to tax churches to pay for all these agencies to answer unnecessary calls. Why isn't just one agency sent to the scene? For example: For a fire, send the fire department; for medical care, send EMS, etc.

We are in a crisis in the United States where many homes are being foreclosed and more and more homeless people are being placed out on the streets. One thing you are not aware of is soon you will see many churches begin to go through foreclosure. The reason for all of this is because there is a drastic decrease in donations because of our economy.

With food and gas prices being at their high, people don't have the extra money to help different churches and organizations. Has anyone taken the time to count how many businesses have closed or are in the process of closing, not only in the city but in Highlands County?

In the past 32 years we have fed over a million meals, and at this time the number of meals is drastically increasing. In 2007 we served 27,300 meals and housed 528 men, women and children. We also gave out 857 food baskets. We do a great service for the city of Sebring and Highlands County. Also we save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars by housing and feeding the poor and the less fortunate in Highlands County. The people who come through our doors are dropped off for us to take care of by government agencies, coming from government funding and even city funding such as: sheriff's department, police department, Florida Hospital. Highlands Regional, Florida Hospital of Lake Placid, Marge Brewster, Peace River, Coalition of the Homeless and even the highway patrol. When finances get low here at the mission we immediately cut back and watch our spending so that we balance our budget.

I hear comments all the time that churches don't pay taxes; this statement is not true. We have to pay taxes on the same things other people have to pay, such as gas, utilities, water, sewage, telephone, employee tax. The only thing we are exempted from is property tax and other items we purchase because we are a non-profit 501 (C) (3) corporation.

All other cities have found this new way to tax churches but, they don't call it a tax. All this does is to help the politicians to support new projects. The tax assessment that was placed on churches residing in Sun 'n Lake started out at $50 and since then they have increased that number to over $4,000. The government is supposed to be for the people, not the people for the government.

My complaint is I think it is wrong to tax churches to pay for unnecessary emergency calls with three agencies responding. The statement "don't mix church and state" has always been in place. So why does the state want to get involved with the churches?

Rev. Michael C. Karl is the founder-director of the New Testament Church and Mission in Sebring.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT