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Fire Fee increase rejected by Margate Commissioners
• Not as rosy as residents may think
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Thursday,
July 8, 2010
After listening to Margate residents speak to high unemployment, low disability checks, fixed incomes and foreclosures – for almost two hours Wednesday night, Margate City Commissioners in a 4-1 vote decided against raising household fire fees in the city from $185 to $225 yearly.
A staunch supporter of Margate’s Fire Service, Commissioner Arthur Bross dissented.
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Margate City Manager, Frank Porcella, explained to a city chamber packed with Margate residents that the proposed $40 increase per household (a total $900,000) was going to accomplish two things. First, it would raise $500,000 to replace an 18-year-old fire truck needing to be retired. Second, the remaining $400,000 would help close this year’s almost $3.8 million budget deficit.
Residents lined up to speak Wednesday were furious at city officials for considering the fee increase. From business owners who say year over year sales have declined, to military veterans and seniors on fixed incomes who testified before commissioners that they simply cannot afford the $40 a year increase, albeit a nominal amount in the big picture.
“We’re screaming for help and I hope you guys hear us,” said 30-year Margate resident Dan Marino.
Although residents coming to City Hall to speak in numbers might be a sign of heightened civic involvement, many got caught up in the moment Wednesday and saw the increase in fire fees as nothing more than just that: a tax increase during a time when residents are financially vulnerable.
Porcella saw the fee increase as a fair means of helping close the city's budget deficit this year and to plan ahead by investing in quality assets; replacing a refurbished 1977 fire truck purchased in 1992, which could break down on the way to an emergency - or its pumps fail while fighting fire, potentially leading to increased property damage and loss of life.
[Unlike property taxes]“The fire fee is the only way we can fairly charge each property owner, whether you live in a million dollar home or one worth $100,000 you pay the same,” Porcella said.
In the past year, property values in the city have plummeted to the point of more than 2,700 households not paying ad valorem taxes at all after homestead exemptions are considered – the majority of which are condominiums (damage done by amendment one, say city leaders). The sole tax these households pay to receive all Margate city services is the fire fee, creating an unfair distribution of taxes among Margate residents, said Porcella, many of whom pay $2,500 or more in ad valorem taxes plus the $185 fire fee.
Notwithstanding Margate residents feeling victorious when leaving City Hall Wednesday,
Margate city officials were still left with a $3.8 million dollar budget deficit to close, which Porcella said could lead to layoffs in the city and / or an increase in Margate’s millage rate.
The general consensus among Margate residents was that pink-slipping city workers should be considered as a viable means of balancing this year’s budget.
Commissioner Pan Donovan suggested furloughing city employees.
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