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Highlands Today

Fire Assessment

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Bernadette Johnson

Published: August 31, 2008

On Aug. 28, my husband, son and I attended the Sebring City Council meeting to voice our opinions on the fire assessment proposal. Our intention was to state our case as to the burden it would put on our income.

As owners of apartment buildings we would be expected to pay what a homeowner would pay per unit, at 100 percent it would be over $5,000. With a 25 percent vacancy factor since January, passing the cost on to our renters was not an option.

After hearing representatives of churches and nursing homes and other organizations that help the people of this city to live with some form of dignity plead their cases, we felt a little guilty. We will have to cut back on some of the things we expected to do in retirement but can still make payments necessary to continue a fairly comfortable lifestyle. They were trying to survive.

The council's answers to these pleas were a steadfast: "I'm sorry it's a burden, but you use the service and now we want everybody to pay." They did in the end admit that the model provided to them by the paid consultants had flaws and needed adjustments but no adjustments were made. Instead they appeased the crowd by passing a proposal of 1 percent, not to exceed 10 percent along with a promise of a lower millage rate. They explained that this balanced out so that most people would be paying the same or in some cases even less than last year. They rationalized that at 1 percent ($4 or $5) it would not be a burden on the institutions. They freely admitted that they did not need more money.

So what was the point of passing an assessment that clearly was not going to add to the revenue of the city? It's this. The state is trying to cut back on allowing cities to impose assessments. If assessments are not already in place by an up-coming date, a city will not be able to initiate an assessment.

The amount of the assessment is not important, as that can be changed at any time. So, although the city is fine and does not need the money now it was important for them to put this assessment in place so at a future time they could drop the fire department from their city budget and assess us for 100 percent of the cost. That would free up the fire department money, $2,100,000, now in the budget for whatever they deem the city needs. It is a tool to be able to get more money in the long run. The aim of the council was to get an assessment in place and they did.

Shame on them! At a time when everyone needs to do the best they can within a fixed budget and be forced to decide what our real needs are, the city chose to ensure themselves with a means for business as usual at our future expense.

Bernadette Johnson
Sebring

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