At the urging of Lakeland’s fire chief, city officials are taking the first steps required to implement a fire assessment fee in 2027.
Fire Chief Doug Riley fervently advocated for Lakeland to consider implementing a fire assessment fee in 2027, regardless of whether Florida’s voters approve statewide property tax cuts under Amendment 3 in November.
“In my opinion yes, I am pro-fire assessment fee,” Riley told commissioners at their July 31 agenda workshop. “I wish we had done it years ago.”
Lakeland officials gave City Manager Shawn Sherrouse a “thumbs up” to seek proposals from third-party consultants that will do a state-required study to justify implementing a fire assessment fee and propose how the cost of service could be divided among different property owners. The estimate cost of the study is between $75,000 and $100,000.
“Part of the idea behind a fire assessment fee is it’s very common,” Sherrouse said. “It exists in many cities.”
Several regional municipalities already have a fire assessment fee, or non-ad valorem tax, as a funding mechanism to pay for fire and emergency rescue services, including unincorporated Polk County, Bartow, Dundee, Frostproof, Haines City and Lake Wales.
The study would map out what a fee could be. It’s not a commitment to implement one, as Commissioner Mike Musick said.
“There’s nothing binding at this point,” he said.
It’s the start of a process that Lakeland has been through before, roughly a decade ago.
What is a fire assessment fee?
An assessment fee is a non ad-valorem tax used by municipalities that must be dedicated for a specific purpose, in this case, supporting Lakeland Fire Department.
Riley said he does not believe that a fire assessment fee was allowed to include funds to support emergency medical services. City Attorney Palmer Davis said Polk County has raised its fire assessment fee in recent years to cover a massive expansion to is EMS services by adding 75 new positions in 2025.
Under Florida law, Lakeland must also find a fair method to apportion the fee between property owners. But the state doesn’t dictate how.
Polk County charged a flat rate per dwelling unit with single-family homes at $393 per year, regardless of size, for 2025. Non-residential buildings pay a rate based on classification, then what category their square footage falls in.
Haines City bills their fire assessment fee as 85 cents per $1,000 of assessed value of improvement to the land, or building value, plus about $140 per property parcel and a $5 collection fee.
The fire assessment fee is not impacted by a homestead exemption and would not be reduced by the larger exemption provided if Amendment 3 is approved by 60% of voters in November. That amendment would increase the current $50,000 exemption on homesteaded property to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.
Lakeland’s considered a fire fee before
Roughly a decade ago, Lakeland commissioners under the leadership of Mayor Howard Wiggs heavily considered implementing a fire assessment fee in the city. At the time, the city’s property tax rate has been increased to help pay for construction of the city’s seventh fire station and staffing it.
The stated goal was to implement a potential new fee to cover costs of the expanded fire service, while potentially reducing the city’s millage rate.
Under a draft of the 2015 plan, people living in single-family homes, duplexes or mobile homes would be charged $181 per year if their homes are less than 1,400 square feet in area; $225 for homes between 1,401 square feet and 2,100 square feet; and $264 per year for homes larger than 2,100 square feet.
There was pushback from mobile home owners who realized their property tax bill could more than double, and called out the city’s plan for unfairly burdening the poor. In 2015, more than 60% of the nearly 35,000 single-family homes, duplex and mobile home owners would have been charged more under the proposed fire fee policy than an equivalent increase in the property tax rate, according to The Ledger’s analysis.
Ultimately, the contentious fire assessment fee was shelved because of public outcry despite predictions it would have generated $8 million a year in revenue if adopted.
Timeframe for implementing a fire assessment fee
Under state law, Lakeland officials normally would need to advertise the fire assessment fee by Jan. 1, 2027, in order to collect it in the 2027 tax roll.
There exists an exception where if the Property Tax Collector, Polk County Property Appraiser’s Office and the city agree they can extend the deadline to March 1.
Sherrouse said he’s already spoken to Joe Tedder, Polk’s tax collector, and Neil Combee, former county commissioner turned county property appraiser, to extend the time frame to March 2027. Lakeland commissioners would need to approve a city ordinance authorizing collection of a fee by their Feb. 15, meeting. Sherrouse said a city ordinance would need to approve future collection of a fee, but would not need to specify any details about the amount to be collected or what methodology will be used to determine a fair apportionment between different property owners.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland considers billing property owners a fee for fire service
Reporting by Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
