WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — Wakulla County is set to present an updated Fire and EMS service study at a public workshop ahead of the next Board of County Commissioners meeting.
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The county evaluates its fire services, known as the Municipal Services Benefit Unit, every five years. County Administrator David Edwards says studies like this help establish tax rates for the next five years.
The consulting company Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects LLC worked with the county to examine the cost of providing Fire and EMS services, how to fairly divide the costs, and the possibility of implementing a new EMS services MSBU.
The study evaluated the costs to the county for providing fire protection and EMS services, the classification of property use types and relative costs to services, and the fair and reasonable apportionment of assessable costs among parcels. It also provided assessment rate scenarios for parcel classifications based on projected costs for a five-year period, as well as guidance and a critical events schedule for implementing an EMS services MSBU.
The current residential rate for fire services is $256 per home; however, Edwards says taxes likely would not go up if the county potentially adds an EMS service MSBU.
"What we would do is we would, we would recommend to the board that if it costs $3 million for our EMS facility, that we would drop millage by that amount, so it'd be an equal offset. So that's, that's how we would come up with that, with that offset," Edwards said.
Edwards explained that if the fee for EMS were added, it would not be nearly as large as the fire services fee. He also shared that the fee would not be affected if property taxes were cut.
"Putting EMS in its own fund and funding it separately, it protects the public. It protects our EMS service from tax cuts in the future. So we're doing it for a couple of reasons. One is transparency, but also to protect the service for the public. This way, no matter what happens on the property tax side, public service is going to continue to go because they'll be able to have their own assessment that can't be affected by property taxes, just like the fire side. So our EMS service, no matter what happens on the property tax side, is protected," Edwards said.
Neighbors can learn about the studies during the public workshop, which will not include any votes. The workshop will take place at the chambers before the next BOCC meeting at 4:30 p.m. on May 4.
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