By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            A Tallahassee consulting firm is proposing a maximum fire assessment fee of $268 on every home in Bronson.

            Bronson Town Council members will meet in a public workshop at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 4 to take public input and listen to a presentation from Nabors, Giblin, and Nickerson, the consulting firm, on the proposed tax.

            The fire assessment fee would be imposed on residential, commercial, and vacant land, but the bulk of the assessment would be paid by Bronson homeowners because 88 percent of Bronson Fire Rescue’s calls are residential.

            Council members could choose to adopt the fire assessment at a lower level than the maximum of $268 per home. They could choose $204 per home or $129 per home.

            Or they could choose not to adopt the fire assessment.

            The assessment isn’t a property tax. There is no millage rate involved. It is a flat fee. There are no exemptions from the fire tax, as with property taxes, unless the council decides to give residents with low incomes an exemption.

            Council members haven’t made any decision at this point on whether to adopt the assessment or at what level.

            Under the current setup, the town receives $145,000 annually from the county’s $129 fire assessment. Town residents don’t pay the county fire assessment fee. Rural residents pay the fee. In return for receiving the county fire tax money, Bronson Fire Rescue fights fires outside its city limits in a designated district and also responds to mutual aid calls from other city fire departments in the county.

            Bronson Fire Chief Dennis Russell encouraged the council to conduct the fire assessment study. He said his department needs the additional source of funding from the fire assessment fee.

            The town’s fire tax would assess commercial property owners 3 cents per square foot and levy a flat charge of $16 for vacant land. Bronson has a relatively small business district.

            There is no absolute guarantee the council will adopt a fire assessment fee. The council will listen to comments from the town’s residents and determine what’s in the best interests of the community as a whole.

            The council’s first reading of the ordinance would be May 16. Adoption would take place on June 6 under the schedule outlined by the consultants. The assessment would be placed on the property tax bill in November this year.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt March 26, 2022; Posted March 26, 2022