Council sets assessments at 0% and asks staff to study homestead buy-down for fire assessment

At the July 25 meeting the Panama City Beach City Council adopted resolutions setting the fire service assessment, the stormwater assessment and the Front Beach Road CRA assessment with no increase (0% for the coming cycle) and directed staff to study options for a homestead exemption or other buy-down for the fire assessment.

Special counsel Mark Lawson reviewed the legal standard for special assessments and said the proposed assessment rates meet the judicial-validation tests (benefit, proportionality and reasonableness). During the public hearing Rex Lee Reed asked the council to table the assessments and study a homestead exemption (arguing residents shoulder disproportionate costs from tourism). Council members and staff discussed the feasibility; Lawson explained exemptions can be adopted, but the waived revenue must be made whole — typically through general-fund dollars — to avoid shifting disproportionate costs to other property owners or losing proportionality.

Following discussion, the council voted unanimously to adopt the three assessment resolutions at 0% (resolutions 24156, 24157 and 24158). The council also directed staff to evaluate options and present several legally-compliant homestead-exemption or buy-down models for the fire assessment, including the general-fund impact and how the assessment distribution would change under each option.

The actions taken are procedural budgetary decisions that will feed into the city’s upcoming budget workshop and discussions with staff and special counsel about options for resident relief.