Fire district fees on property tax statements disputed
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/236603/
Benton County officials disagree on whether residents have to pay fire district dues if the fees appear on their property tax statements.
Two proposals to put the dues on statements for unincorporated residents in the Highfill and Pea Ridge fire department districts are on the Nov. 4 ballot, and several others were approved earlier this year.
The Beaver Lake Fire Department has collected the fees since 2004 when the Legislature approved putting the dues on statements of residents who are served by volunteer fire departments and live in unincorporated areas.
State Sen. Dave Bisbee, who is the GOP nominee for Benton County judge, said that he asked for an attorney general’s opinion about two weeks ago and that it will be a month or more before a decision is released. Bisbee will face Democrat Bill Williams of Bella Vista for the seat.
Bisbee said the problem stems from an amendment to the act — A. C. A. 14-20-108 — that places the dues on real property tax statements instead of personal property tax bills.
Personal property that is assessed includes vehicles and boats.
The intent of the revised law was to make the fee mandatory.
Many people had avoided paying the fee because nonresidents owned real property, not personal, in the area.
When the switch from personal property to real property was made, the attorney general’s office issue an opinion stating that the government could not seize a person’s property if the owner didn’t pay the fire dues.
That doesn’t make it clear whether a person must pay the fee.
Benton County Clerk Mary Lou Slinkard said the fee is mandatory because the county’s Quorum Court makes it so.
“The law is clear,” she said.
Benton County Clerk Greg Hoggatt doesn’t see it that way.
Because fire departments are nonprofit entities, they cannot issue a tax, he said. Additionally, there are no laws that dictate how to collect fire dues, he said.
Putting the dues on tax statements “doesn’t make it any more important than it ever was before,” he said.
The fees are mandatory if you ask Beaver Lake Fire Department Chief Jerry Owen, but not so for Pea Ridge Fire Chief Frank Rizzio.
Pea Ridge wants to add a fee of $ 50 to the tax bills of about 1, 500 unincorporated residents. Highfill also wants to collect $ 50 each from residents of its unincorporated areas.
Opinions on the status of the fees differ throughout the county, too.
Justice of the Peace Jim Wozniak said they’re required, while fellow Quorum Court member Chris Glass said the fees are voluntary. If that’s the case, there was no point in passing legislation to put the fire dues on tax statements in the first place, Bisbee said.
To contact this reporter: aotoole@arkansasonline. com