Chatham County approves fire tax for unincorporated residents, but won't collect quite yet

About 10,000 county residents may have to pay a fire tax after Chatham Commissioners approved a number of measures to better fund and delineate Chatham Emergency Services' borders of service.

The decision, made Dec. 29, does not implement a new tax, but amended the laws to allow for Chatham County to include fire taxes in the next fiscal year budget. The change replaces any fees paid by residents directly to Chatham Emergency Services. "It's an invisible change," explained County Manager Lee Smith said at the meeting.

And, the door is still open for Chatham County to collect funds via a fire fee, but by passing the ordinances it gives the commission options on different ways to collect the needed funds as budget discussions continue. Basically, nothing has changed yet, but the process to make the changes have begun.

"All you're doing is putting in place the laws that give you the ability to do these things," Smith told commissioners Wednesday morning. Rates won't be decided until the budget is passed in June. Smith said residents should have an idea of what the new rates would be around mid-May, when budget discussions begin.

If implemented in the budget, Chatham County would collect the taxes, which would help fund Chatham Emergency Services.

The decision to impose the tax came after CES came to Chatham County asking for help. About half of their customers were not paying their rates. CES is the umbrella which operates fire and EMS for unincorporated Chatham County. With these changes, CES is now apart of Chatham County and will be audited by the county.

CES Chief Chuck Kearns assured residents no visible changes to fire services and emergency services will be made due to the budget and administrative adjustments.

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Tax Commissioner Sonya Jackson told county officials she was not legally obligated to enforce a fire fee, so a tax was passed instead. The "rushed decision" to not vote on the fire fees was the reason Dean Kicklighter was the sole commissioner to vote against establishing the tax.

CES currently has a fire subscription service. When that ends this summer, customers will be pro-rated for the remainder of their billing cycle.

Boundaries for the fire districts were also approved at the meeting. This helps fire departments where there is a service overlap, particularly in Pooler, Garden City and Port Wentworth. Once the changes go into effect, residents will not be able to opt-out or choose their fire service. Residents living in a municipality or a district with a volunteer fire department will see no changes.

The changes come after a new contract between CES and Chatham County, which seeks to cover CES' budget shortfalls. Smith told commissioners this seeks to close the gap from non-paying customers, including businesses and "a lot of apartment buildings."

Smith said an education initiative will soon kick off to help educate unincorporated residents on what the tax means, and why it was created.

Zoe covers growth and how it impacts communities in the Savannah area. Find her at znicholson@gannett.com, @zoenicholson_ on Twitter, and @zoenicholsonreporter on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Chatham County approves fire tax for unincorporated residents