Although the salary study was one of the main items listed on the agenda for the Franklin Town Council called meeting on May 15, talk about how to pay for the needed fire trucks dominated much of the meeting’s discussion.
The Franklin Fire Department has requested two new trucks - a tanker and a tanker/pumper – at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. The fire department budget is determined by the fire tax, which is set by the Macon County Board of Commissioners.
Fire Chief Ben Ormond said he has been told it is unlikely the department will get a fire tax rate increase this year, since the department received one last year.
Town Council member Stacy Guffey said the town has a responsibility for the public safety of its people.
“I think we need to seriously consider getting the trucks,” agreed council member Rita Salain. There was a question if at least one truck could be purchased from the town’s $2.9 million fund balance.
However, council members Joe Collins and David Culpepper both said if the town puts up the money for the trucks, the county is less likely to approve a fire tax increase to pay for the trucks.
“I would love to do it, but it just doesn’t feel right to me,” Culpepper said.
Culpepper said it’s not that they don’t care about safety, it’s that it is a separate budget funded by the fire tax.
“We need the fire trucks, but the fire district needs to pay for the fire trucks,” Culpepper said.
He said the 4,000 people in town should not have to pay for something that serves people outside the town.
“The fire district tax is its own source of revenue,” Culpepper said.
Guffey pointed out, “There are things that we (the town) pay for that thousands of people use every day.”
“And benefit from,” added Salain.
As he has at past meetings, Culpepper questioned the structure by which the fire department receives its money and why the town must approve the budget when it is based on revenue from the fire tax.
“We have no ability to affect the fire tax rate,” he said.
“We have no ability to advocate for the people that we serve,” Guffey replied.
The mayor and council directed the fire chief to ask for an increase in the fire tax rate. If the county denies the request, the mayor said then the council will have to decide if it wants to allocate money for the trucks.
“At the end of the day we have no control over the Franklin Fire Department budget - how they take in money – it’s an entirely different budget,” Culpepper said.
Collins pointed out that other than Highlands, Franklin is the only other department in the county that has a municipality it can go to for funding.
“If we do it this year, we’ll be at the same place next year,” Collins said.
Ormond said most other municipal fire departments in the state receive funding from their town for either personnel or capital expenses.
Like other fire departments throughout the county, the Franklin Fire & Rescue receives its revenue from the fire district tax assessed in the district. The department’s current rate is .07 per $100 value. Due to the county’s property revaluation, the proposed revenue neutral rate for the coming fiscal year is .0522, which would generate about $66,000 in additional revenue. The fire department’s proposed budget for 2023-24 is $1,183,250.
The department requested and received an increase last year, raising the tax from .0545 to the current .07 per $100 value.
At last week’s meeting, the chief said since 2017, the county has given the department 1.5 cents to go toward purchasing a truck, however a new truck has not been purchased yet.
The Board of County Commissioners must approve any fire tax increases the fire departments receive. That will be done as part of the county’s budget process; the date for the fire department presentations to the commissioners has not been set yet.
Mayor Jack Horton said the town also needs to get input from the people who will be paying the bill – the taxpayers. The public can comment during the public hearing on the 2023-24 budget at the June 5 Town Council meeting, beginning at 6 p.m.