Lawmakers concerned about runaway volunteer fire department dues becoming mandatory payments held up legislation earlier this month that would make payment of the dues a prerequisite to payment of real property taxes.
Senate Bill 461 would give fire dues billed and collected by county tax collectors the same priority as real estate taxes, making payment of the former a condition of paying the latter.
Four of Garland County's nine volunteer fire departments' dues are collected by the county. The county election commission said the 70 West Fire Department plans to hold a special election later this year to become the fifth, seeking to join Lake Hamilton Fire Department as the county's only departments with dues levied by the quorum court.
Departments with dues listed on tax bills are required to file annual financial statements with the county prior to receiving their disbursements.
Sen. Kim Hammer, R-District 33, of Benton, told the state Senate's City, County and Local Affairs Committee he filed the bill in support of county tax collectors, who have said they don't know what to tell taxpayers when asked if payment of dues listed on tax bills is mandatory.
Title to tax delinquent lands vests with the state land commissioner's office if property taxes are two years past due, but the Association of Arkansas Counties has said properties cannot be referred to the state for unpaid fire dues. Committee members said Hammer's bill could lead to property being expropriated for nonpayment of dues, as it requires dues listed on tax statements be paid prior to real property taxes.
Garland County Collector Rebecca Dodd-Talbert told the committee the county attorney has instructed her office to refer taxpayer questions about dues payments to outside counsel.
"I have to say I'm not allowed to give them legal advice, and that they will have to contact their own attorney to find that out," she told the committee. "We're trying to make it to where we have a clarification on what we're supposed to do, and how we're supposed to do it."
Sen. Alan Clark, R-District 13, of Lonsdale, said he and other business owners in the Morning Star Fire Department's service area would be forced to pay thousands of dollars in annual commercial dues or risk losing their livelihoods under Hammer's bill. Hammer said he would offer an amendment to limit increases on annual dues of $100 or more to 5 percent. Increases more than that would be subject to quorum court approval.
But Clark said the fix doesn't address commercial properties already facing annual three- and four-figure payments.
"It's going to make it mandatory for all these businesses that have these bills now," Clark, noting that Morning Star charges some commercial properties more than $1,000 a year, told the committee. "It doesn't do anything to help businesses in the district."
Hammer said citizens are responsible for regulating volunteer fire departments. Passive participation allows departments to disregard community will when setting rates and policies, he said.
"There's a certain duty on citizens to be aware and involved with their volunteer fire departments to see where that money is going," he told the committee. "It's important to be involved."
Morning Star was the county's first department to get its dues listed on property taxes, petitioning the quorum court in the fall of 2017. Information provided by the tax collector's office showed it has collected $252,221 in 2018 dues listed on 2017 tax bills mailed in February 2018.
Morning Star Chief Nathan Kew said rates have not been raised since the county took over billing and collecting. He said the department's board of directors voted in October to maintain residential rates and drop the hazard rating on commercial properties, which he said lowered commercial dues.
Kew said forming a fire association, rather than a fire district, kept the department's dues voluntary. The Lake Hamilton Fire Department formed the latter structure last year, holding a special election where members in its 44-square-mile service area voted to create a quasi-governmental entity, with dues that are levied by the quorum court similar to taxing entities such as schools, cities and the county library.
Information provided by the tax collector's office showed it billed Lake Hamilton members for $489,150 in 2019 dues on 2018 property tax statements mailed last month. The Buckville and Jessieville fire departments formed associations last year, with the tax collector's office respectively billing $16,250 and $57,730 in 2019 dues.
Hammer framed his proposal as a fairness issue, telling the committee nonpaying members impose an undue burden on those who pay their fair share for fire protection. He said improving collection rates has become more urgent now that state surplus funds are no longer supporting volunteer fire departments, which benefited from general improvement funds the Legislature no longer allocates after several lawmakers were implicated in kickback schemes involving the funds.
"They don't have access to the GIF funding they used to, and they need every dollar they can get," he said. "The bill does not raise dues. It does not set any dues. That's going to be left at the local level as to how much each volunteer fire department feels it should set dues. This is just going to clear up a gray area."
Local on 03/22/2019