By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer
The Emergency Services Board will hold a public hearing on behalf of the county’s fire and ambulance district’s to hear public comment on the proposed tax rates for 2026.
The hearing will be held 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, at the Bypass fire station at 805 Indian Mound Drive.
Fire Chief Mike Mosbey said one rate is staying the same and the other is reducing slightly but they constitute the compensating rate plus 4 percent, which requires a public hearing.
While the fire district rate would be slightly reduced, the ambulance rate would remain the same and they amount to the compensating rate plus 4 percent because the county’s property tax assessments have gone up. That means the same rates would produce more money for the districts, the chief explained.
Mosbey said the primary reason behind the need for extra revenue is to offset some of the increasing cost of health insurance for employees.
The rates will bring in about $83,000 more combined between the two districts, which will not cover all of the extra insurance costs, he said.
An advertisement in the Advocate about the hearing says the proposed revenue the rates would produce also would be used to offset maintenance costs on vehicles and buildings and increasing cost of day-to-day operations.
With the fire district, the tax rate levied last year was 10 cents per $100 of assessed value and produced $1,073,389. This year’s compensating rate is 9.6 cents per $100 and would produce revenue of $1,084,454. The district proposes taking the compensating rate plus 4 percent tax rate of 9.9 cents, which would produce $1,115,281 in revenue, according to the ad.
Revenue expected from new property is $122,562; revenue expected from personal property is $179,955; revenue expected from motor vehicle is $227,026; and revenue expected from watercraft is $6,762, the ad says.
As for the ambulance district, the tax rate levied last year was 10 cents per $100, which produced revenue of $1,620,871. This year’s compensating rate would produce revenue of $1,653,613. The ambulance district proposes the compensating rate of 10 cents per $100, which would produce $1,704,756, the ad says.
Revenue expected from new property is $0; revenue expected from personal property is $280,791; revenue expected from motor vehicles is $286,979; and revenue expected from watercraft is $8,042, according to the ad.