BY LINDA BENTLEY | DECEMBER 14, 2011
Property tax for fire protection rears its ugly head, again
The whole idea behind refinancing Spur Cross and paying it off early was to do away with the property tax sooner rather than later
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Mike Rigney, on behalf of the Citizens Fire Advisory Committee, presented the town with some baseline information provided by Rural/Metro Fire regarding incidents and subscriptions within the town boundaries, broken down by Township, Range and Section. Photo by Linda BentleyCAVE CREEK – Council held a workshop on Monday evening to re-urge the subject of property taxes for payment of fire protection services.
Council has long backed up its citizens’ wishes to not ask them to impose a property tax on themselves, with one exception, the purchase of Spur Cross Conservation Area, the taxes for which will end in 2012, six years sooner than originally anticipated.
Several years ago, council voted to refinance its obligation for Spur Cross after citizens overwhelmingly supported obtaining a lower interest rate, paying the obligation off early and forever banishing the only property tax it has ever willingly embraced.
During the Jan. 31, 2011 council meeting, a split council voted 4-3 against (Mayor Vincent Francia and councilmen Jim Bruce and Steve LaMar voting in favor) a resolution to place a measure on the May ballot to let citizens decide whether or not they wanted to pay for fire protection services through a property tax rather than the current subscription method.
While some citizens believe it is more fair and equitable to pay via property taxes, others prefer to voluntarily subscribe to service without government mandates, intervention or property tax.
Mike Rigney, on behalf of the Citizens Fire Advisory Committee, presented some baseline information provided by Rural Metro regarding incidents and subscriptions within the town’s boundaries, broken down by Township, Range and Section.
Currently, 44.87 percent of the property owners in Cave Creek subscribe to Rural/Metro Fire service.
While 53.8 percent of developed parcel owners are subscribers, only 29.2 percent of vacant land owners subscribe.
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According to Rural/Metro Fire Chief Dan Caudle (r), the percentages are pretty normal for subscription service, which he said Rural/Metro provides in 27 states.
Rigney displayed a map of the town containing 43 dots that represented Rural/Metro’s response to fires.
Francia asked Caudle how many of those dots represented house fires.
Caudle said he didn’t know the exact number but it was only a few.
However, Caudle explained, for example, if someone was cooking a turkey and called 911 because their oven caught on fire, even though there was no structural fire damage, it is still recorded as house fire.
During the January council meeting, citizens who opposed converting their voluntary subscriptions to a property tax were quite vocal.
Scott Dahne, who stated Cave Creek has less than two fires per year, said, “I do not support this tax,” and asked, “Why does this concern the town?”
Gary Kiernan, an advocate of “less government, less taxes and less control,” asked, “Since when did government interfere between citizens and a private company?”
While there were some who favored a property tax as being a “more equitable, more sustainable and more efficient” way to pay for fire service, there were others who didn’t believe they had sufficient financial information.
The advisory committee, which was formed back in 2008 to review the matter of fire protection, came back with four recommendations, one of which was for the town to enter into a master contract with Rural/Metro to be paid with a property tax beginning in 2013.
That is what Town Manager Usama Abujbarah would like to see happen. He said the service would be exactly the same, but since everyone would be paying, it would be substantially less expensive for many property owners, including Abujbarah.
Although council can vote to impose a sales tax, when it comes to property taxes, it must be approved by voters. All council can do is vote whether or not to place a measure on the ballot to ask citizens to vote for or against a property tax.
According to Abujbarah, the property tax would be approximately the same amount as the tax levied for Spur Cross, around $0.67 per $100 of valuation, for starters anyway.
Perhaps it’s the newcomers to town who are unaware that the whole idea behind refinancing Spur Cross and paying it off early was to do away with the property tax sooner rather than later, not extend it on into eternity to pay for something new.
Currently, Rural/Metro’s subscription rates are based on the total square footage of all the structures on the property, while vacant land is charged at a very nominal rate of about $50 for the first five acres and $1 dollar per acre over that.
Caudle said it’s basically a way for vacant land owners to support their local fire department, adding, “People cause fires,” and since no one lives on vacant land, the risk of fire is much lower.
However, if it were to become a property tax-based system for payment, it would have to be based on the tax assessor’s valuation of the property.
Representatives from the Daisy Mountain Fire District were on hand to answer questions as well.
A fire district, another option to be considered, is basically a subdivision of county government. It is run by a volunteer board elected by the citizens in the district.
The board submits a budget each year to the county board of supervisors for approval and, once approved, the county will determine the tax rate needed to meet that budget.
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Daisy Mountain Fire Chief Mark Nichols (r) said the fire district is paid via a tax levied on the Secondary (full cash) assessed valuation. Daisy Mountain’s current tax rate is $2.97 per $100 of valuation.
And, because it’s a system based on assessed valuation, vacant land is taxed just like developed property only at a higher rate of 16 percent rather than the residential rate of 10 percent.
That would mean, if the citizens want to go to a property tax-based system of paying for fire protection, not only will the owners of all the 1,287 vacant parcels in Cave Creek, of which only 29.2 percent are currently subscribers, have to pay for fire protection service, they’ll have to pay based on their Secondary assessed valuation.
As Sonoran News Publisher/Editor Don Sorchych pointed out during Monday’s work study session, the five acres of vacant land he owns and pays $50 per year for his Rural/Metro subscription would then increase to approximately $340. That’s on top of what he would be required to pay for fire protection for his home, which would then be based on the whimsy of the county tax assessor rather than square footage, which rarely changes.
While there are 1,287 vacant land owners, it is highly likely the majority does not reside in Cave Creek and will not be entitled to vote on a ballot measure that will raise their property taxes exponentially.
Taking a voluntary subscription service that has no problems cited by either Rural/Metro or those subscribing to its service, and where the percentage of subscribers is considered normal for the type of service it offers, and turning it into a mandatory property tax, simply redistributes the charges, forces people who may not be able to afford it to pay higher taxes and increases costs to those who pose the lowest risk so that those who pose a higher risk can pay less for their service.
During hard economic times, some people, including the mayor, have opted out of their Rural/Metro subscriptions.
If payment for fire coverage becomes a tax, property goes to auction when the owners discover they can’t afford to pay.
Taxes seem to always become a one-way street – once imposed never to leave.
Cave Creek still has an opportunity to prove that wrong by celebrating its final payment for Spur Cross on June 30, 2012 or it can diminish that joy by asking voters to impose a new property tax on May 15, 2012.
While Monday’s meeting was only a work study session to ensure everyone had all the information they needed, Francia said council will be voting on the issue during the Dec. 19 council meeting.
Council will be asked whether or not it wishes to approve a resolution calling for a special election to be held on May 15, 2012 to submit to the qualified electors of the town the question of the proposed amount to be raised by primary property taxes for fire coverage.
