By Betsy Finklea
LATTA—The Latta Town Council discussed the fire fee that Dillon County is imposing on the citizens within the town limits of Latta at their meeting on Thursday.
The Dillon County Council voted 4-3 at a called meeting on Thursday, September 1st to pass the budget, which included imposing a $55 fire fee on the property owners in Latta. Voting for the budget was Chairman Stevie Grice and Councilmen Harold Moody, Archie Scott, and James Campbell. Voting against the budget was Vice-Chairman Buzzy Finklea and Councilmen Gerome McLeod and Jack Scott.
Latta Town Administrator Jarett Taylor explained the situation to the Latta council.
Taylor said the Dillon County Council called about three weeks ago asking him about the inclusion of Latta in the county fire tax.
About four to six years ago, the town found themselves in a huge budget deficit, and they were trying to find a way out of that budget deficit. Taylor and some members of council at that time decided to take some strategic cuts to their budget at that time and see if they could catch up, which they did, and he was very proud of this. At that time, the town was paying in excess of $15,000 in workmen’s compensation insurance for the firefighters. He said the chief and several of the fire members at the time said that in the name of keeping a Latta Fire Department, they were doing for years was doing double service, and when the town fire truck went to a fire so did the county. He said the same Town of Latta firefighters were also the county firefighters. He called the County Administrator Clay Young and explained that they were doing double coverage for the same job. He said at the time that Young said that was a no-brainer, that it was not going to cost the county any more on the county side of things. Taylor said they signed a contract that said “in exchange” for the county taking over the fire service, the town provided the building for the fire department, which includes five bays and an office space.
He said three weeks ago from acting Administrator Clay Young wanting to know his thoughts about the county imposing a fire tax on Latta because the county (unincorporated areas) had been paying a fire tax for some time. Town of Latta and Lake View residents had not been paying the fire tax. City of Dillon residents had not been paying the tax because they provide their own fire service.
Taylor said he had mixed feelings about it. He said if they were not going to cut the fire budget, and they were going to, in turn, roll the fire tax back to making the fire service in this part of the county better that is a good thing. He said he thought it would put some strains on some certain folks, but overall, it would be a good thing because it would provide more service, better equipment, and better response time. Taylor said he told Young that if he kept the budget the same and made sure that the fire fee paid by Latta citizens came back to this area, he thought people would be okay with it fir the most part. He said he said he would like for there to be a town council to county council discussion. Taylor said a couple of days later, he received a contract on his e-mail. He said in that contract there were things he thought he would never see in the wording, etc. He said he e-mailed Young and copied his council and told him this was not what they talked about.
Taylor said that he then talked to Dillon County Councilman Buzzy Finklea, who said he strongly opposed the tax, but that some councilmen were saying that they would not vote for the budget if the tax was not included. He asked him if they could set up a meeting at the community center to talk about it. Finklea agreed. The meeting was set up. The day before, he got a call and said the council had withdrawn the idea of the tax in the budget so the meeting was not held. A day or two later, he received a call from a county citizen who said the tax was back on the table.
Taylor said he called County Council Chairman Stevie Grice and that they had about a three-hour conversation about the $55 tax. Taylor said he felt that the Town of Latta did things for the county that no other town in the county did from this standpoint. He asked what he was talking about. Taylor said their recreation fee was the same for people who played whether they live in the town or the county. Taylor said that the county contributed only $15,000 for recreation which was less than 20 percent of the town budget for recreation even though the number of children who play from the county (which is about 70 percent) outnumber the town children three to one. Mayor Nancy Brigman said that it was only $10,000 until the second year of her first term. She said Young told her to ask for $20,000, and she might get $15,000, and they did. She said prior to that it had been $10,000 for quite a while.
Another thing the town does is provide the fire building for $1.00. The town pays for the insurance, electricity, and took care of the bills as per the agreement. He said county pumpers hook to the town water system, and they didn’t charge for water.
The biggest thing is back in the mid-to-late 1980s, the town ran a sewer line from Latta to the 181 exit. This was to help the county and help Commerce department to help make a commercial effort there. He said what he tried to get Chairman Grice to understand it that between property taxes, hospitality taxes, and accommodations taxes, he felt that the county had received well in excess of what the county was asking to pay in the fire tax. Taylor said to his knowledge the county had never paid anything for the maintenance of that line ever. He said what they did was give back some money that came from a failed project a long time ago. Brigman said they didn’t pay anything when she was mayor before. He said Chairman Grice still didn’t understand what that meant. Taylor said 15 minutes before the meeting he did some brief research to see how much that line was worth to the county. Taylor said just searching online in 15 minutes and came up with well over $200,000 in benefits that the county had gotten out of their sewer system six miles out of town limits that the town can’t get anything from. He said that property would not be developed without hooking to the Latta sewer.
Taylor said at the county called meeting prior to the third reading of the budget on the very same day, Chairman Grice gave him the opportunity to plead his case. He said they sat there and listened to him for about 15 minutes and went into a vote and basically blew off everything he said.
Brigman said that she liked Taylor’s suggestion at the office that they grandfather the existing businesses in, cut off the rest of them, and let the county take care of it.
Taylor said if they had put on a fire millage as suggested, the senior citizens and those who needed it most, would have gotten a break. He said he did receive a call from a county representative asking him if he would be happy with just a fire millage.
Taylor asked what he thought was fair. He said what he thinks that millage is fair, but he thinks that Latta should be getting a certain percentage of what the county makes off the 181.
Taylor asked Councilman Brian Mason how much would be available in the town budget if they had to make repairs today. He said about $20,000-$30,000. Taylor said one panel that went down at the industrial park cost $30,000.
Taylor said he was not asking the county to fund Latta’s water and sewer system, but he thought they could very well easily take five or ten percent of what they get out there and put in a bank account for a rainy day fund to fix that particular stretch of sewer. He said to him the millage and setting up a fund for that line is fair.
Councilman Joe Williamson said they have skin in the game out there, and they need money for it.
The council was comfortable with Taylor further discussing this with the county.
