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St. Mary's County emergency services advance property-tax incentive package; LOSAP appeals process and data app finalized
Summary
The Emergency Services Board discussed the property tax incentive ordinance tied to the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP), announced an appeals process with an April 17 return deadline, and said a new website/app to collect member data was completed April 9 to support a public hearing on April 22.
The Emergency Services Board of St. Mary's County on April 9 discussed progress toward a property tax incentive ordinance intended to support volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members, outlined a LOSAP (Length of Service Award Program) appeals process and said an information-collection website and app were completed the afternoon of April 9 to support upcoming hearings.
Board Chairman J. A. Nelson and Jennifer Utz, director of the St. Mary's County Department of Emergency Services, told the board that staff have been working with county information technology to build a URL and app to collect the membership data needed if the ordinance advances to public hearing. Utz said the site is intended to let one representative per fire or rescue squad monitor and input members’ status and to provide back-end functions for the deputy director to manage LOSAP appeals and monitoring.
The board was told Tier 1 LOSAP lists have been posted at department stations and that a formal appeals process is open. Department leadership received instructions on how to file appeals; the board requested returned appeals forms by April 17 so staff can process them in time for county review. Utz said the appeals process and paperwork were distributed to departments and that returned forms should be sent to DES by mail or email to the DES group inbox.
Why it matters: the ordinance and the LOSAP adjustments are tied to recruitment and retention of volunteer emergency personnel and will go to public hearing on April 22. The board indicated the county commissioners are expected to consider approvals at a commissioners meeting on May 6 following the public hearing.
Board discussion and directions: Utz and Deputy Director Kirsten Shea were repeatedly credited for preparing the ordinance materials and the data-collection application. The board discussed adding association representatives to the ordinance structure; the chairman noted recommended updates to include association board chairs, county fire and EMS chiefs, and assistant chiefs. Utz said the app and URL finished the afternoon of April 9, but some back-end processing remained to enable appeals handling and department-level monitoring.
No formal vote was taken on the ordinance itself at the April 9 meeting; members were asked to identify one representative per department to gain access to the app as soon as possible.
Meeting actions and procedural votes: the board approved the minutes from the previous meeting (motion: approve minutes; mover: not specified; seconds: Jason Adams and Hattie Norris; outcome: approved by voice vote). The meeting later adjourned by a motion from Jason Adams, seconded by Ernest Rogers, approved by voice vote.
What remains unclear: the ordinance text and final eligibility rules are subject to the county code language that will be presented at the public hearing; specific benefit-dollar amounts and certain implementation details were not specified at the April 9 meeting.
Next steps: the public hearing on the property tax incentive ordinance is scheduled for April 22; departments were instructed to return LOSAP appeals by April 17. DES staff will continue backend work on the data-collection app and will distribute access instructions to the identified department representatives.
