With assessments to pay for Parrish fire protection comes some pain. Here’s what it could cost

Along with the growth and development of a community comes the pain of paying for essential services.

Thus, the Parrish Fire District, which has one station to cover a 97-square-mile area, in March approved a new annual fee system to pay for four additional stations.

The stations would be added over time, according to the district’s long-range plan, Fire Chief Stacey Bailey said.

Driving the need for the new fire stations is a surge in growth with thousands of new homes under construction or permitted within the fire district’s boundaries, and the construction of a new State College of Florida campus, a new high school and a new elementary school.

Bailey concluded that the Parrish Fire District did not have enough staffing, facilities or fast-enough response time to meet the needs of the fast-growing, far-flung area.

“It’s about the health, safety and welfare of the people,” Bailey said.

With that in mind, Bailey studied other Manatee County fire district fee systems, including Cedar Hammock, East Manatee, Myakka City, North River, Southern Manatee and West Manatee, and developed a fee system based on them.

Essentially, Parrish fire commissioners approved a system that charges an annual assessment of $185.38 per residence, plus a square footage rate of $0.184 for anything larger than 2,400 square feet.

The formula is not an apples-to-apples comparison, because some districts charge a lower (or higher) base rate and a higher (or lower) square footage rate. In addition, three of the districts studied also levy a millage.

But it does result in the new Parrish fire district fees landing somewhere in the middle of annual assessments collected by other districts.

Using the example of a 2,991-square-foot home, the annual assessment for a Parrish home would be $298.57, compared to $184.15 in North River, $649.01 in Southern Manatee and $477.69 in East Manatee, according to a review offered by the Parrish district.

Smaller houses would be assessed less. Larger houses would be assessed more.

And that is creating a rub in Foxbrook, a neighborhood of large homes on large lots located north of County Road 675 and east of U.S. 301.

Dana M. Relyea, president of the Foxbrook Homeowners Association, recently sent a letter to HOA members expressing displeasure with the new fee system.

“This letter will not make your day. We wish we had good news, but we don’t. We are reaching out to inform and help each of you understand the facts behind an alarming, newly implemented, fire assessment tax for the Parrish Fire District. This new tax will greatly increase the fire tax burden for each of us by huge amounts, no matter how you look at it,” Relyea wrote.

“With very little notice or fanfare, it appears the folks at PFD saw fit to change the way they allocate the tax burden on each household from basic flat and uniform tax per unit to one that is based on home square footage. In addition, this calculation is based on all under-roof space which includes garages and patios,” Relyea wrote.

Using the example of his home, Relyea said the fire assessment on his house would increase from $182.54 in 2017 to $477 in 2018.

The tradeoff for Foxbrook would be the construction of the Parrish Fire District’s second fire station on or near Foxbrook.

Once the fire house is completed, residents will see an immediate reduction in the rates they pay for their homeowner insurance, said Mike Williamson, district division chief.

“That’s just the fire side. There is also the medical benefit,” Williamson said.

Even though some Foxbrook HOA members say they are mobilizing for action and are reaching out to other communities being hit with this increase, Bailey said he is hopeful that the next fire station will be built in Foxbrook as planned.

Other fire stations are envisioned for North River Ranch, L3 Farms and the Gilly Creek area.

Gretchen Fowler, president of the Parrish Civic Association, said she has not heard much reaction to the new fire district assessments.

The new fees are for the safety of Parrish residents, she said.

“I commend the Parrish Fire Department for trying to plan for the future,” Fowler said.

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 1:14 PM.