Fire, Street Fees Are Considered

BARTOW | Residents may find themselves paying more for fire service and street repairs in 2009, based on commissioners' budget discussions Wednesday.

City Manager George Long suggested that the city consider creating assessments for these areas, which would free up money in Bartow's ever-tightening budget.

Administrators could spend the next year setting up programs to assess the fees, and implement the charges in the 2009-10 fiscal year, he said.

A street assessment would allow the city to borrow the money to make sweeping repairs to roads throughout the city up front and repay the loan as the annual assessments are collected.

A fire assessment would cover that department's estimated $2.6 million budget, which would send that money back into the general fund for other programs.

Long is proposing an annual assessment for solid waste as well, including expenses for garbage collection and recycling. Residents are already paying that fee but it is tacked on to their monthly utility bills at the rate of $18 per month.

Long wants to make that an annual $226 payment on the annual property tax bill.

Residents would pay the same amount under the new proposal, they'd just pay it at a different time and place.

He's asking the commission to consider appropriating $150,000 in the coming fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, to evaluate the best way to assess the fees and to implement the new charges.

In their review of the 2008-09 proposed $71.7 million spending plan Wednesday, commissioners also talked about different property tax options to increase revenue.

Right now, the budget is based on a tax rate of $3.11 for every $1,000 in taxable property value.

For residents living in a $200,000 house with a combined $50,000 homestead exemption, the city's property tax rate would cost them about $466 per year.

If the tax rate is increased to $4.01, which the commission was considering Wednesday, those same homeowners would be paying the city $601 in property taxes.

The increased rate would generate an additional $513,000 for the city, after backing out funding for the city's Community Redevelopment Agency.

Commissioners have to decide on a proposed tax rate by Aug. 4. Once that is set, they can lower the rate but not raise it.

Under Amendment 1, the homestead exemption was expanded. Homeowners now receive the first $25,000 reduction in their assessed value. followed by a write-off of $25,000 for the assessed value from $50,000 to $75,000. So a homeowner whose home is valued at $50,000 would pay taxes on $25,000, while a homeowner whose home is valued at $75,000 would also pay taxes on $25,000.

During Wednesday's workshop, commissioners also talked about splitting the residential utility bills in two, allowing customers to pay the electric portion at one time, and the water and sewer portion about two weeks later.

For now, the budget doesn't include employee raises, but Long said commissioners can use some of the estimated $687,570 in their reserve account for that purpose.

David Wright, the city's finance director, said an average 3 percent raise across the board would cost between $500,000 and $600,000 per year.

[ Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. ]