County considers plan to add MSBU assessments to tax bills

County commissioners are considering a plan to put MSBU assessments on local tax bills but they haven’t yet reached the point where they want to schedule a public hearing on the issue.

MSBU assessments are levied on every undeveloped lot, home and business in Franklin County to 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.

The MSBU assessments are sent out separately from the tax bills, and that has led to the problem of thousands of the assessments not being paid in a timely manner which means local fire departments aren’t getting the money they need when they need it.

Unpaid MSBU assessments are placed as a lien on the property and are paid when the property is sold.

If the MSBU were placed on the tax bill, then they would be paid at the same time property owners pay their taxes which would be good for the fire departments.

The only concern that has been raised about placing the MSBU on the tax bills is that if someone pays their taxes but not their MSBU, their tax certificate could still be sold if the MSBU assessment is over 200 dollars.

That does not affect Franklin County yet, but could in the future if the county decides to increase the MSBU rates.

Tax collector James Harris said he will contact other counties that do put the MSBU on their tax bills to see if there are any other issues that Franklin County has not thought of – he should have that information by the next county commission meeting.

At that point the county commission will decide whether to move forward and let the public weigh in on the issue.

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