Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC
What I still do not understand is why businesses located in the Villages cannot pay for this service based on the size of their building?
Sun went on and on how big a percentage increase it would be but never said anything about dollar amounts.
Seems like commissioners backed off on an increase to business.
Hoping Don will answer this.
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The businesses will say that they are paying for the serviced based on the size of their building. Only a small portion of the fire service funding comes from the $124 assessment, the rest comes from property taxes. The larger their building the higher the value and the more taxes they pay.
One of the arguments for the proposed fee and new structure was to remove the reliance on property taxes, at least for the fire suppression part. Rather than basing the new fee on property value, the new fee would have been based on building size (with special calculations for non-building businesses like campgrounds.
While residential assessments would have increase by 160%, I don't remember seeing an equivalent number for how much commercial assessments would have increase but the percentage would have been huge.
A large number of people stood up in the meeting to oppose the new fees and structures. Some were likely associated with commercial properties but others would have been objecting to the residential increase of about $200. While it does appear that the commissioners backed off on an increase to business, it could also be argued that they backed off on an increase that seemed to displease much of their constituency. (though I certainly don't doubt that there was a lot of communication from business interests prior to the meeting as well)