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Fired up over fee (complete article from source)
Source: Mid-South News, by Alex Doniach
July 19, 2007
Owners of open land say new assessment goes too far
Nearly 50 years ago James Daniels bought 225 acres of sprawling land near the Mississippi River in unincorporated Shelby County.
Covered in sunflower fields and unruly forests of cottonwood, sycamore and pecan trees, the wild land floods up to 20 feet most years, making it good for hunting and fishing, but useless for development.
So when Daniels, 82, found out about a new fee that would be assessed on his unimproved acreage to fund fire services and an enhanced ambulance contract, he grew hot with frustration.
"I can't do anything with this land -- can't build on it, can't fill it in and who's going to buy it?" he said. "They can't get away with charging me a fee on it."
In the week since County Commissioners approved a graduated fire fee system, a growing number of residents like Daniels have spoken out against assessing the fees on open land.
The graduated fire fee would be based on the square footage of homes and would replace the existing flat fee of $327. It would apply to homes only in unincorporated Shelby County and Lakeland.
For the first time, owners of land without residential structures will also be charged a fee. Labeled "unimproved properties," open land will be assessed at about 85 cents per acre with a cap at $50 a month.
Information distributed at the commission last week counted farms as unimproved land. It also showed that each parcel would be charged separately, so that a resident with three parcels over 60 acres each could owe as much as $150 a month in addition to what they might owe for their residence.
By his own calculations, Daniels could go from paying a $327 annual fire fee to paying about $1,700 to cover the cost of his three parcels of vacant land, located a few miles from his actual home. "It's not reasonable," he said.
Ted Fox, the county's public works director, said he doesn't know exactly how farmers and vacant land owners will be affected because the details are still being worked out.
Because Mayor A C Wharton and his administration set the rate, public works officials can tweak the fire fees.
"We want to make sure we do that as fair and equitably as we can," Fox said, adding officials plan to finalize the payment structure in time to implement the new fee system by Sept. 1.
Commissioner Mike Carpenter, who originally requested charging fees on unimproved properties, said these landowners should pay for the use of county fire service. But he agreed charging residents a separate fee for each parcel of land is "clearly not fair."
Not all residents are opposed to the new fee system.
"If they had a fire on their land, they would want a fire department to come and put it out," said retired resident Donald Ware of Eads. "They should pay a fire fee for the service."
Commissioner J.W. Gibson said most of the comments he's heard about the new fee system have been positive. "People still feel it's the fairest way," he said.
Recently a group of unincorporated county residents gathered in a community center on Fite Road to figure out the new fee system.
They passed around papers detailing the new fees, and with the help of Commissioner Wyatt Bunker, attempted to figure out how much their bills might be.
"There's a lot of things they've got to iron out," said Terry Roland, a business owner and unincorporated county resident who owns a few parcels of land. "This just doesn't seem right."
-- Alex Doniach: 529-5231
Click here for complete article from Mid-South News
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