AVON PARK - Churches and non-profit groups in the City of Charm will have to fork over more money for their fire protection after the council voted 4-1 to charge them 75 percent of the institutional rate for the city's fire assessment.
This means that churches will have to pay 50 percent more to the city's fire department through the annual assessment than it did last year, when they were charged 50 percent of the institutional rate. Homeowners will still pay $165, while commercial and nursing home rates were unchanged.
Mayor Sharon Schuler argued that the city could not cut costs anywhere else, and after the state lowered the projected sales tax revenues the city would get by about $73,000 the city needed to raise the fee to keep the fire department going. Councilman Al Joe Hinson, who cast the dissenting vote, did not like the thought of the fee taking up the church tithes and feared that churches would be strained by the added burden.
The higher rates came as the council scrambled to come up with ideas to close the $73,000 budget shortfall, which was revealed in a report given to the city Friday. Among other suggestions, councilman George Hall thought the council members should forfeit their salaries and try to convert other offices to volunteer positions.
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