4/23/2008 11:40:00 PM
Joint city-county fire committee makes progress on creating a single fire department
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By Karl Burkhardt
Columbia County and Lake City officials moved closer to an agreement for a single fire department at a committee meeting Wednesday afternoon.
City Manager Scott Reynolds and Councilman Mike lee answered a list of questions from County Manager Dale Williams. Commissioners Stephen Bailey and George Skinner also represented the county at the meeting.
Lee began the discussion by saying that they have been talking about the details before answering the big question, "Does it make economic and service sense to do this?" Informally, each agreed that the residents of the area would be better served by a single department and that it would be less expensive than operating two departments. The Lake City fire assessment is $153 per year for residences. The county assessment is $77. Lake City takes about $700,000 from its general fund for fire department expenses that are not covered by the assessment.
Question 1: "Will the City of Lake City require that any and/or all of the current Lake City Fire Department personnel be retained and if so, must they be retained at current rank and salary?"
Less said, "speaking for myself, we would go out of the fire business. We would not merge." "He added "We would not hamstring the county by telling them how to run their department."
Question 2: "As a number of the City Fire Department employees are covered by a private pension plan and the county Fire Department is covered by the Florida Retirement System, who will be responsible for future private pension plan contributions should the private pension plan become underfunded?"
Lee answered that the city should be responsible for its employees and their pension fund.
Question 3: "Who will be responsible for unemployment payments should any of the current City Fire Department personnel become unemployed as a result of the county providing fire services within the city of Lake City?"
Lee responded, "The city."
Question 4: "Will any and/or all of the current City Fire Department fire apparatus be available for transfer to the county? Will the apparatus be 'donated' or will it be offered for purchase? Please provide a listing of the available equipment and its purchase price estimate if it is not donated.
Lee said all equipment that is paid for will be donated. The county would assume the payments on the ladder truck, the only piece of equipment that is not paid for. Reynolds said he would provide the amount owed on the truck and the payment schedule. He estimated the remaining debt on the ladder truck at $400,000.
Question 5: "Will the current City Fire Department building be made available and, if so, what is the annual cost. Reynolds said the cost of the Public Safety building is split between fire and police. He said he would get an estimate of the monthly cost for the fire department, including the utility costs.
Question 6: "Is the intent of City Council to authorize the Board of County Commissioners to levy a non-advalorem assessment within the incorporated limits of Lake City? Is it the desire of the City Council for the county to administer non-eligible costs (ie. Indigents, not-for-profits, etc.) based on the same policy as the county utilizes for unincorporated area residents, or does the city desire to adopt a separate policy for the incorporated area to be administered by the county?"
Lee said there should be one assessment for everyone at the same rate. The city would not have a separate assessment. The rules for paying the assessment for exempt organizations should be uniform.
State law requires a 'cost and allocation' study, determining the total cost of maintaining a fire department and the assessment for each property. Every property must be included in determining assessments. The city or the county cannot waive assessments - they must pay into the fire fund from another fund to cover the exempt properties. State law says those paying assessments cannot be charged extra to cover the cost of those not paying.
"What revenue source is the city proposing to cover non-eligible costs? The county currently utilizes a non-general-fund general revenue. Will the city indemnify the county for non-eligible costs by a direct contribution or does the City want the county to fund all non-eligible costs through the general fund?"
The actual costs have not been determined and the city and county are paying for outside firms to determine the costs. Those numbers must be determined before there is an agreement on how costs will be funded.
Question 7: "As long as the non-advalorem assessment rates remain the same for each property category, whether in the incorporated or unincorporated area of the county, will the county be required to have City Council approval prior to assessment increases?" The city would not be a part of the assessment for fire protection, Lee said. Assessments should be the same for city and county residents.
Question 8: "Who does the City propose pay for the required 'cost and allocation' study necessary to study this request? This is the study that Government Services Group (GSG) performed last year. I would estimate the cost to be between $10,000 and $12,000. This estimate excludes direct-mail and postage expenses should the proposal go to a hearing."
Lee said the cost probably would be split evenly between the city and county.
The proposal to have the county provide all fire protection service will be on the agenda for the County Commission's May 1 meeting, if the cost numbers can be furnished by the city.
Mike Lee asked if commissioners saw any roadblocks to approval of the fire proposal.
"I think they (other commissioners) will stick over EMS until the issue is resolved," Bailey said.
Columbia County began billing Lake City $150,000 a year for EMS service to the city two years ago, after the state ruled that property assessments could not be used to fund EMS services. Lake City officials declined to pay, saying city residents were also county residents and should not have to pay twice.
Columbia County officials said they fund EMS from sales-tax funds the state shares with counties and cities. The county argued that the city also should use sales-tax revenue to pay its share of the EMS costs.
Lake City is being asked to restore the funds lost by the county when the assessments ended. Lee asked if there is a way of determining the city's chare of the costs.
If the formula is based on the respective populations of the city and county, most of the cost would go to the county, Williams said. However, most of the EMS responses are for car crashes and most of those are in the city, including Interstate 75. That would mean the city pays most of the cost. However, insurance companies can be billed for EMS services, but those funds do not cover the cost of the service.
If a county resident requires an ambulance while in Lake City, is it the city or county that is responsible for the cost? Williams asked.
If it is determined that the city should pay some of the EMS costs, the city should pay them, Lee said. City and county officials have been debating the cost to the city for more than 18 months.
County Commissioners will discuss the fire proposal and decide if they will resolve the fire issue before there is a resolution on the EMS issue. It they agree to continue the process, there are other details to be addressed before there is an agreement.
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