By Richard Boyd
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
Because of a disagreement over territory, the city of Covington and St. Tammany Parish’s 12th Fire Protection District failed to sign a proposed intergovernmental agreement by their self-imposed deadline of Saturday.
District board Chairman Joe Mitternight said his board instructed him not to sign the document unless the city concedes a crucial question of which department will be designated as primary responder in certain areas.
City Councilman Trey Blackall said Monday he has lost patience and does not care whether the 12 District signs the agreement. “We are not giving up any jurisdiction, and that is the way it will be,” he said.
Jurisdiction in the Claiborne Hill area just outside the city is the final sticking point in a long process aimed at ending double taxation of dozens of businesses. The businesses, annexed into the city over the past two years, were paying property tax to both the Covington Fire Department and 12th Fire District.
The proposed agreement would have made the Covington Fire Department the primary responder for pockets of the Claiborne Hill section that have been annexed by the city such as the Alpine Village subdivision. The 12th District would be the first responder for an unincorporated area east of West 21st Avenue and north to U.S. 190.
But Mitternight said the Fire District’s board insists that their department be the primary responder for all of Claiborne Hill, regardless of annexation. “Unless we get that concession I don’t see how we can sign this agreement,” Mitternight said over the weekend.
But Blackall said, “We will not concede the jurisdiction question. It is a matter of control with Fire District 12, but we legally have an obligation to be the first responder for fire emergency calls in any area inside the municipal boundaries of the city.”
In June, the two sides reached a tentative agreement, and the 12th District agreed to stop assessing 25 mills of property tax on some 42 businesses that the city had annexed. After being annexed, the businesses found themselves being taxed 25 mills by the fire district and another 10 mills by the Covington Fire Department, and many complained to Blackall, Mayor Candace Watkins and others on the City Council.
“They want to remain primary responders for annexed areas in Claiborne Hill because then they can continue to tax them,” Blackall said.
A bill passed by the state Legislature earlier this year says that only the fire department designated as primary responder can assess an area with a millage. The act, authored by state Rep. Diane Winston, R-Covington, defines the Covington Fire Department as primary responder for any area annexed into the city.
“We don’t need the intergovernmental agreement. We have the Winston bill and that accomplishes what we are seeking, which is to eliminate the double taxation,” Blackall said.
After a two-hour session Tuesday, the two sides walked away without a settlement. Mitternight argued that since his department has a station at Louisiana 21 and Louisiana 36, it can reach all areas in Claiborne Hill south to the Abita River faster than Covington, which has to send units from Jefferson Street.
Therefore, the 12th District should be primary responder for all the area regardless of whether portions have been annexed, he said.
Blackall and Mitternight said there is no immediate plan to resume talks.