Lakeland city commissioners are feeling the heat from property owners fighting a fire assessment fee proposal.
It’s a route several municipalities in Polk County have passed–but Lakeland residents are giving a lot of pushback.
Commissioners are expected to really pick the subject apart Friday during their City Commission retreat.
They’re in a tough position– the reserves are running dry, but they’re faced with people who say they just can’t handle another bill.
Marcia Bell is one of those. She spends her days helping others at Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE), but when she leaves, she has her own needs.
“I have a lot of medical issues and my medicine is kindof costly,” Bell said.
Her latest concern is a fire assessment fee proposal that affects every property owner in the City of Lakeland. “It would be stressful,” she said. Another bill is not in her budget. “You have unexpected emergencies- this would be an unexpected emergency,”
City spokesman Kevin Cook has been making the rounds to neighborhoods, churches and non-profits explaining the need for a fire fee.
“The reserves are running out so we’ve got to do something,” Cook said. “Right now in Lakeland about 50 percent of our population pays the majority of the taxes so this just makes it a more equitable way to pay for city services,” he explained.
There’s a formula behind who would pay what.
Some homeowners are hearing numbers like $200-$300 a year.
VISTE is hearing much more.
“In the range of three to five thousand dollars a year,” President Steve Bissonnette said.
And in VISTE’s case–it’s the needy people they serve who would feel the pain of the punch.
“You take a hundred of those meals [we deliver] out of our stream and divert it to paying this fire assessment fee- that’s what it means to us,” Bissonnette said.
Cook stressed Thursday that this isn’t a done deal and commissioners are considering these concerns.
But to keep up this priceless service of fire protection—somebody has to pay.
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