By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Commissioners Tuesday adopted special assessment fees for Emergency Medical Services, solid waste (landfill), and fire services, as well as road assessments.
The board voted 4-0 in public hearings to retain the current residential assessments of $154 for Emergency Medical Services, $129 for fire services, and $116 for landfill operations.
Special assessments are flat fees imposed to pay for specific county services.
County commissioners are in the final stages of adopting their new budget which begins on Oct. 1. Adoption of the special assessments is part of the budget process.
Commission Chairman Matt Brooks asked County Attorney Nicolle Shalley if all the special assessments could be approved at one hearing. She said individual public hearings were needed for each assessment.
He followed her instructions.
Commercial, industrial, and institutional business owners pay by the square foot for their special assessments.
Few people attended the four public hearings for the assessments. That’s mainly because the assessments weren’t being increased by the county commission.
Road assessments are for subdivision roads that have never been accepted into the county road maintenance system. Property owners living on both sides of the road must pay for grading, dumping of lime rock, installation of culverts, and other road maintenance services.
Commission Chairman Matt Brooks and Commissioners John Meeks, Tim Hodges, and Desiree Mills were the voting members of the board that approved the special assessments. Commissioner Rock Meeks was absent.
In response to questions, commissioners said they impose the landfill assessment in all unincorporated areas of the county and within all the cities. The assessments pay for landfill operations.
It was noted that city residents also pay the $116 special assessment in addition to paying commercial haulers to carry their garbage to the landfill. Many rural residents also pay for a commercial hauler.
The county commission has established several satellite dumping stations for residents to use who live long distances from the Levy County Landfill and its transfer station.
Commissioner John Meeks said the landfill assessment is intended to pay only for landfill operations and for the transfer of garbage to the New River Landfill by way of 18-wheel trucks. The assessment doesn’t pay for the hauling of garbage to the landfill or to satellite dumping stations.
Commissioners were asked if Emergency Medical Services was being entirely funded with the EMS special assessment or if money was being taken from other areas of the county budget to help pay for the service.
County Coordinator Wilbur Dean and Meeks said the EMS assessment is paying the entire cost of operating the Emergency Medical Service and the county hasn’t had to dip into other parts of its budget.
Dean said the county generally designs its special assessments to provide funding for a five-year period based on a study that is conducted by experts in the field of finance.
He said the county commission is in the fourth year of its five-year EMS funding cycle and a special assessment study for emergency medical services will likely take place soon to determine the size of the assessment for the next five-year cycle.
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Budget Public Hearing September 12, 2023; Posted September 13, 2023
