Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fire Funding Overlay topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County proposal to expand fire overlay would raise Rural Hall’s rate in example to about 6.5 cents
Summary
County staff told Rural Hall council the county fire commission recommends using the countywide overlay to fund personnel and capital across volunteer and municipal departments; staff estimated that, under current numbers, municipal taxpayers in Rural Hall could see an illustrative overlay bill of about 6.5 cents if the overlay’s purpose expands.
Deputy County Manager Kyle Haney told Rural Hall’s council that a county fire commission recommendation would use the existing county overlay tax to pay personnel and capital costs across the county fire system, not only the supplemental prevention and investigation services the overlay funded when the town joined in 2022. "We went from having over a thousand volunteers in the system to under 300 in the system," Haney said, describing the staffing shortfall that prompted the commission’s recommendation.
Haney showed an illustrative calculation based on the current fiscal year and said the expanded purpose would increase the overlay burden for municipal taxpayers: "if you looked at this past year where the rate was 1.79 … just to cover those personnel and capital services would be about 6 and a half cents," he said. He emphasized that the county board of commissioners sets the overlay rate annually and that the 6.5‑cent figure was an example using current budgets, not a final adopted rate.
Council members pressed Haney on what would remain in local rural tax districts versus what the overlay would cover. Haney said the recommendation would move personnel and capital onto the overlay while leaving day‑to‑day operating costs in the rural tax districts. He also said the county aims to develop an equitable formula for municipalities that contract with the county for some services.
