In spite of requests from representatives of the Cullasaja Gorge Fire Department and testimony from some members of the Cullasaja Fire District, the Macon County Board of Commissioners refused to increase the district’s tax rate by one cent per $100 valuation.
The decision came in the wake of two budget workshop meetings in May, where CGFD Board Chair Jack Baird requested a one-cent increase to the fire tax rate in Cullasaja to ensure the board can afford a pair of fire trucks that will replace a pair of 30-year-old trucks currently in service at the department. They can afford one truck without the increase, but the most recent order for a second truck will need to be canceled at the cost of more than $50,000 to the department.
The department faced criticism from commissioners for approaching the board so soon after it was granted a 1.63-cent increase in 2023, especially from Commissioners John Shearl and Josh Young. Shearl said when tax rates go up, they don’t come down, while Young said he would potentially support a half-cent increase but was unwilling to entertain the full cent.
Three options were added to June 10 agenda, one to approve a budget with no change to the Cullasaja fire tax, one to increase the rate by half a cent and one for the full cent. As a public hearing opened for discussion on the county’s options, eight speakers stepped up to defend the increase to the commissioners as a way to afford the most recent truck order.
Don Willis, a Cullasaja district resident, said, “I am in favor of a tax increase for the Cullasaja Fire Department … I was also a volunteer firefighter with the Franklin Fire Department, and I was also a fire marshal of Macon County in the 1990s … I retired from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office in 2021. Since 2008 Cullasaja Fire Department has only asked for one tax increase over 17 years … the truck in question, I’m told, is 30 years old. According to the national fire protection agency, fire apparatus should be retired after 25 years of service.”
“We must remember that these trucks work in the mountains and are under some harsh conditions,” Willis continued. “If we have a fire in my house, I want to be assured that the fire truck will work adequately and pump water when needed. When I look at the cost of a tax increase of a penny … I have a home of $200,000, that’s only $20 more a year in tax. If your home is worth $300,000 that’s $30 more a year.”
David Dabney, a fire department volunteer, spoke about moving to the area in 2017. “Around 2017 I got to wondering why my insurance bill was so high,” he said. “They said you’re outside the five-mile limit from either a fire station or a substation. That’s when my interest started piquing. I went to the fire department and talked to them about trying to get a substation close to us and the guy said ‘Well, we don’t have the funding.’ I found out the last time they had a tax increase was 2008 … I hate to see our department get in that kind of situation again.”
“When we had our last tax increase,” Dabney said, “the fire department had three main goals to do and they met all three of them. That was to hire another full-time person … the second thing was to get another fire truck on order … the third thing was, they decided to get a substation, and were able to get one going up on Ellijay Road. It’s just about complete … Those older trucks are a problem. They’re running good now … but you can’t get parts for them a lot of times. If one goes down, it goes down for a while.”
Chad Stone, one of the department’s full-time employees, said, “My fight is, even though I’m an employee, I’m also a taxpayer. I live in Cullasaja, I want my money to be used wisely. I want to see where my money goes … I know where my fire tax goes, and I would like to see it used, as an increase, to help us fund a new truck.”
Betsy Carson, another volunteer, said, “Last week, when we were discussing the one-cent increase, I went to all my neighbors on River Rock Lane to talk to them about what this increase would mean for them, not just money-wise, but for how important it was to be able to maintain the equipment that we have at the fire station. My neighbors, homeowners, range in age between 28 and 95. Every single person said that they would love to support this initiative and hope that we would get the one-cent increase and my 95-year-old neighbor said, ‘Why don’t we give two cents?’”
Once the speakers had made their points, Baird stepped forward to present a petition of 318 signatures gathered since the May 28 work session. Baird said he wanted to subtract 70 of those signatures, as they had been collected at pump stations, which he did not approve of.
Of the remainder, a handful of the signatures were illegible, leaving 229 that were useful to the department, Baird said. Of those, 97 are verified residents of Cullasaja. Baird said he was unable to verify the remaining 132 due to time constraints.
“I was asked if I have the support of the community, and I believe that I do,” Baird said.
As the public hearing closed, the commissioners began their discussion.
“The real issue for me, Shearl said, “is the fact that we have 30-year-old trucks that we knew that the recommendation for not to be longer than 15-20 years, but we ignored it, we put people on the payroll and we built the substation. It seems to me that you would want to replace the apparatus when it’s 20 years old and not 30 years old.
“The Town of Franklin oversees Franklin Fire Department,” Shearl continued. “The town of Highlands oversees Highlands Fire Department. The other nine fire departments, nobody’s overseeing them except for the board of directors and the firefighters. Well, I think it’s time the county gets involved in this and see what we can do to better … I would recommend that your department have an audit of your books, possibly a forensic audit of your books and report it back to the county manager.”
Commissioner Barry Breeden said, “The hard part for me is giving an increase on buying a fire truck because you didn’t have enough money to buy a fire truck, which sets a precedent for us and any other fire department around here that says ‘We need a fire truck, let’s go buy one even if we don’t have the money for it because they’ll bail us out.’”
Young said, “I was proud to sit here and support the 1.63 cent increase in ’22 or ’23 and I felt like Jack had a very compelling argument then … then you got the truck that you asked for, you got the position that you asked for, you got the substation built and I felt whole about that … I feel like it’s going to set a precedent right here that’s going to ripple across the county just, go buy your trucks and go see the commissioners, we have no choice. Pending a forensic audit, I think I would consider this in the future, but at this point in time … the timing’s just terrible.”
Commissioner Danny Antoine said, “I think I do understand the need that you are presenting to us … I would support it, but with an audit. I have the same concern after this, if we do support this, how many more departments are we going to run into the same issue with this? … It’s not so much that we just want to say no … the money’s just not there for everything to get done.”
“We have been very frugal,” Baird said. “Now I feel like I’m being punished for doing that.”
Commissioner Gary Shields said he would make a motion to support the one-cent increase if possible. However, the first motion was put forward by Shearl to approve no tax rate increase. The motion passed 3-2, with Breeden, Young and Shearl voting in favor and Shields and Antoine voting against.
2025-26 budget approved
The 2025-26 budget approved by the commissioners has changed little since its initial proposal. The budget maintains the current property tax rate of 27 cents per $100 property value. The total operating budget remains at $64,711,599, slightly more than last year’s $63.7 million budget due to more revenue from increased property value.
Service rates are not expected to change, save for Emergency Medical Services to remain in line with state recommendations. County employees would see a 3% cost of living adjustment, with no changes to the present pay plan and no health insurance rate increases.
Small changes to the budget occurred during the county’s two work sessions, according to County Manager Warren Cabe. For Emergency Services, $384,000 in would-be funding for a new ambulance was repurposed to remount an old ambulance, and the remaining funds going to fill four EMS positions with no change to the overall budget. The Sheriff’s Office has $73,476 in contract expenses to hire a transportation officer, with no change to the overall budget. Additionally, $200,246 in contingency funds were moved to the school system’s operating expenses, again with no change to the overall budget.