Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Commission directs a new fire-assessment study and moves to end nonprofit exemption
Loading...
Summary
After discussing timing and equity concerns, the commission authorized staff to begin a new fire-assessment study (estimated cost $40,000) and agreed to change nonprofit coverage from an 80% exemption so nonprofits will pay the full assessment; staff will include the change in the preliminary fire-assessment resolution.
City finance staff and commissioners on March 23 debated whether to increase the city's residential fire-assessment fee and how to balance potential reductions in property-tax revenue with service funding.
Bridget Souffrant, the city's chief financial officer, recapped a 2019 study that set a residential fee ceiling of $231 and said raising the residential rate to that ceiling could produce roughly $9.2 million in additional revenue; an intermediate $150 rate would produce about $3.1 million. She said the study methodology looks at five years of fire-suppression funding and call-volume data and that a new study would update those calculations to reflect more recent staffing and budget growth.
Commissioners focused on timing, legal constraints and fairness. Several asked whether government properties and nonprofits are assessed; Souffrant said government properties are fully exempt (statutory exemption) and nonprofits currently receive an 80% exemption; removing the exemption would raise an estimated $706,000.
Assistant City Administrator Jose Luis Rodriguez told the commission the fee had not been comprehensively reviewed since 2019 and recommended updating the study as a planning tool given continuing budget pressures and contract cost increases.
The commission gave staff direction to proceed with a new fire-assessment study (staff estimated a cost of about $40,000, to be paid from fire-assessment funds) and reached consensus to remove the 80% nonprofit exemption so nonprofits would pay the full assessment; staff said the change will be included in the preliminary assessment resolution and brought back to the board for the required procedural steps.
Several commissioners urged caution about increasing costs for residents and asked staff to consider targeted relief programs: staff noted an existing budget line (about $5,000) for fee-relief and a housing department program that can provide up to $600 per senior household for assessment relief.
No formal roll-call vote was recorded on either the study authorization or the nonprofit-exemption change; the mayor asked for objections and no commissioner objected to either direction during the work session.
