Franklin County commissioners have agreed to hold a public hearing to amend the county's MSBU ordinance.
MSBU assessments are levied on every undeveloped lot, home and business in Franklin County to pay for fire protection – the assessment shows up on your tax bill every year.
According to property appraiser Rhonda Skipper – there are 22 lots in Franklin County that are completely underwater and she would like to remove them from the fire tax.
She said there are probably as many lots that are almost fully underwater but still have a little bit of uplands that remain dry and those will have to be dealt with when the Gulf of Mexico claims them too.
The underwater properties are valued at 25 dollars on the tax rolls and the property owners only pay 10 dollars a year for MSBU, but it is still a little silly that they should pay anything at all.
County Attorney Michael Shuler said at this time the county doesn't have the power to stop the MSBU assessment on the properties, which is why the MSBU ordinance will have to be amended and that will require a public hearing.
He said when the ordinance was created, no one thought about property that might go fully underwater.
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