By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Bronson’s youngest town council member ran into some fierce opposition from the mayor Monday when he proposed levying a fire tax to help the fire department cover its expenses.

            Councilman Tyler Voorhees wasn’t shy about proposing the tax, saying it was needed to help the fire department purchase a new pumper and rescue truck and other equipment Fire Chief Dennis Russell wants for his department.

            “Everyone in the county’s got one including the county. It’s a way to bring funds for the fire department to cover the cost of trucks, fire equipment, and employees,” Voorhees said.

            He said Chiefland and the county both charge $129 per residence for their fire assessment tax. Chiefland charges 5 cents per square foot for commercial and a flat $8 for vacant land.

            Chiefland’s fire assessment tax will generate about $195,000 in next year’s budget for Chiefland Fire Rescue.

            Mayor Beatrice Roberts said she thought the fire tax was a good idea but she wanted Voorhees to consider the financial impact on residents.        

            “It would help the fire department, but what about the citizens?” she said. “You’re talking about taxing the citizens again. We just went up on their water bills and all that.”

            Voorhees said people never want to pay higher taxes, but he thought it was worth about $129 a year to protect their homes from a fire.

            Roberts said the county already taxes Bronson residents in other ways.

            “The county does tax everybody – the $116 property assessment for garbage and then there was another tax and that’s not just for the county people, it’s for the city people too, “she said. “We only got a handful of people here and most of us – we’re not in poverty but we’re right in there, so it’s kind of hard now. You’re paying the $116 but you’re also paying the county EMS assessment. Now I’m going to pay the Bronson fire department. You got to look at your people that you’re serving.”

            Roberts said she felt a Bronson fire assessment would be bad timing, with all that’s taken place with COVID-19 and the current economic conditions. She said with some people not working, the timing isn’t good.

            Voorhees said it would be a way to help Bronson Fire Rescue pay its share of a new fire truck. Russell told the council he plans to ask the Levy County Commission Tuesday to share in the cost of purchasing a new fire truck for Bronson. He will ask the county to provide $25,000. Bronson would pay its $25,000. The city would buy the truck through a 10-year lease-purchase plan.

            Russell will present his request to the county commission in a 1 p.m. budget meeting following the regular county commission meeting at the Levy County Government Center on School Street in Bronson.

            Does Family Dollar Still Have Life?

            Town Attorney Steven Warm said he was informed by the county Monday that if Family Dollar Tree complies with certain requirements, there is a possibility the company can secure permits to build a store across from the Levy County Courthouse.

            The store was thought to be a dead project when the county informed Family Dollar Tree that it couldn’t get a driveway permit for Court Street directly across from the courthouse. The town had already approved the project. The company responded to the county’s ruling by changing its site design to build its entrance and exit exclusively on Picnic Street.

            Warm said the county’s comments today about potentially approving the store’s plans came as a surprise to him. Warm had told a man at a town council hearing concerning the Family Dollar Tree that the project was essentially dead if the company couldn’t have access to Court Street. But now he’s hearing something entirely different from the county.

            “The gentleman who took issue with me when I said that it was moot and was going to go away, I owe an apology because I didn’t know that; our information it was a dead duck, dead in the water,” Warm said. “From what I understand now there is a possibility – I don’t know that it’s a probability – but there are certain things the applicant can comply with, and if they do comply, they are in a position to get approval, which is different than what was being said a couple of months ago.”

            Warm also advised the council that he was planning to move forward to defend the town against the lawsuit filed by the Levy County Historical Society challenging the Family Dollar Tree’s right to build a store at the location across from the courthouse. He said there are certain legal strategies he can use to defend the town against the lawsuit. The town council has approved commercial zoning for the Family Dollar Tree store and granted a variance to allow the store to have fewer parking spaces than it’s required for a development of that size.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting July 19, 2021; Posted July 19, 2021