Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
By ANN BARKS
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
To fill a money gap and lessen its reliance on property taxes, St. Tammany Fire Protection District 1, the Slidell area fire department, may ask voters this fall to approve a parcel fee on residential and commercial properties to generate $1 million annually.
If voters approve the measure, east St. Tammany residents would see improvements in fire services and an improved fire department rating, which would lead to a reduction in homeowners insurance costs that should more than offset the cost of the annual parcel fee, Fire Chief Larry Hess said.
The fee, the size of which has not been determined, would require approval of voters in the 8th and 9th wards. After briefing the fire district’s board of commissioners at its regular meeting last week, Hess said he and other fire department officials will begin conferring with local elected leaders such as Slidell Mayor Ben Morris to get their input. The department is eyeing the possibility of placing the issue on the Sept. 30 ballot.
Currently, the fire department receives more than 90 percent of its $10 million budget from the 35 mills of property tax assessed in the two wards, Hess said. Even before Katrina, there was a gap between what the property tax generated and the costs of operations.
Now, the department is even more challenged because expenses have gone up, most notably for fuel, while property tax revenue may shrink by 18.5 percent this year due to Hurricane Katrina. In addition, three of the department’s seven firehouses were crippled by the storm and must be rebuilt, he said.
Hess said that more than 40 percent of the properties in the district pay no property taxes because of homestead exemptions. A parcel fee would apply to all properties, regardless of the homestead exemption.
With the anticipated reduction in revenue from the property tax, if there is no additional financing, the fire district may have to cut services, which would lower the area’s fire rating and lead to higher homeowner’s insurance rates, Hess said.
Until the district can get a count on the number of residential and commercial properties, Hess said he does not have an estimate on how much the parcel fee would be. However, as an example of how such fees work, he noted that a district in the Baton Rouge area assesses $35 annually on residential properties and $100 on commercial properties. He said commercial properties would be assessed a higher amount based on the greater percentage of responses the fire district makes to such properties.
In other fire district news:
-- The district has sold its headquarters building at Sgt. Alfred Drive and Old Spanish Trail for $200,000 to Richard Findley at public bid. Hess said the building, damaged by storm surge, will be vacated in June. Until a permanent headquarters can be established, the headquarters will be on Corporate Square Boulevard, off Gause Boulevard.
-- Starting June 1, the department will provide advanced life support on all calls until an ambulance crew arrives. Currently, it provides the basic level life support. With 3,500 of the department’s annual 6,000 calls being medically related, this should be a substantial benefit to the public, Hess said.
-- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has donated a satellite phone system, worth $6,500, to the department. This fills a critical gap for the fire department’s communications capability in a disaster, Hess said.
-- The board of commissioners’ next meeting is May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the department’s training facility, 34780 South Range Road on Camp Villere.