St. George Island Fire Department seeks MSBU increase

County commissioners are considering a request from the St. George Island Fire Department to increase the MSBU for island residents to 95 dollars a year.

MSBU assessments are levied on every home and business in Franklin County to help pay for fire protection.   

Currently homeowners county-wide pay 50 dollars a year for fire protection; the cost is 10 dollars for undeveloped lots and 100 dollars for most businesses.

But now the fire department on St. George Island is looking at whether they can separate themselves from the county-wide assessment and charge a higher rate for homeowners in their district.

Steve Carney, representing the fire department’s board of directors, said the fire department is looking at a 44,500 dollar budget shortfall this year, mainly because of a drop in revenue from the annual chili cook-off.

The budget issue will likely become worse over the next 10 years as the fire department has to replace or upgrade many of its trucks and equipment.

County commissioners have table the issue until next week while their attorney investigates whether different fire districts can charge different rates, and also whether any change in the MSBU would require approval from voters in the district.

Mister Carney said that judging by the overwhelmingly positive response the department got from a letter sent to all property owners on the island he believes island residents will vote for the increase.

He had hoped that the issue would be on the August primary ballot but its already too late for that, though, if approved by the county, the issue could appear on the November general election ballot.

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