[birdiebill]

Originally Posted by newgirl

Many can not afford this, I don't understand how this can be justified? And what can we the people do to stop this?

The commissioners may have to make a difficult choice IF the reason for the increase is that the cost of providing excellent fire protection coverage has risen above the level of the current fire protection fee assessment limit. Wages, insurance, equipment, training, maintenance, supplies, utility costs may have risen to where the current assessment does not cover those costs for the Fire Department. Therefore their choice is to either raise the assessment fee to continue excellent fire protection coverage, or to reduce fire protection coverage by eliminating fire department personnel, equipment, fire stations, EMT response, etc. There has not been an increase in the current fire protection assessment fee in years. Tough choice.

We currently pay home owners insurance premiums partially based on the excellent coverage score for fire protection in The Village/Sumter County. We are rated category 2 which is the second highest possible rating. If the category slips below 2, we will pay even higher home owner premiums. So we are going to pay one way or another.