Folks in McLendon Hills want to redraw fire district lines so that they are served by the Seven Lakes Fire Department, in order to get better rates on their homeowner's insurance.
But, when McLendon Hills Property Owners Association President Pete Dotto put that request before Moore County's Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night, April 17, he apparently opened up a real can of worms.
McLendon Hills currently falls into the Eagle Spring Fire District, even though it is closer, at 1.9 miles, to the Seven Lakes Firehouse than to the Eagle Springs Firehouse, which is 3.7 miles west on NC Highway 211.
The Association submitted a petition to the Commissioners asking for the move, which Dotto said is supported by ninety-one percent of the membership.
Each Fire District in Moore County has its own fire tax rate, set by the Board of Commissioners, and its own insurance rating, set by the NC Department of Insurance.
But the McLendon Hills request is motivated by the insurance rating. “It has nothing to do with taxes, nothing to do with service . . . it has everything to do with insurance rates,” said Dotto.
Insurance Cost vs. Fire Department Budget
Currently, the Eagle Springs fire district has a “Class 8” insurance rating, while Seven Lakes has a “Class 6” rating. Dotto told the Board this costs the typical McLendon Hills homeowner an additional $600 a year in insurance fees.
Moore County Fire Marshal Kenneth Skipper told the Board that, if McLendon Hills leaves the Eagle Springs Fire District, it would cost two full time jobs for that district, as well as a $68,000 decrease in the overall budget.
Eagle Springs currently has a fire tax rate of 7.1 cents per hundred dollars of valuation; the Seven Lakes rate is 3.8 cents. In the FY 2011-2012 County budget, those rates were expected to produce $245,000 in support for Seven Lakes; $151,000 for Eagle Springs.
“Paying more in insurance for a less advantageous district, just to keep the tax base going?” asked Dotto. “If moving sixty houses will cost two jobs, my question is: What are those two employees doing?”
According to Dotto, delaying the move will cost the sixty homeowners in McLendon Hills $40,000 in insurance this year.
“Give us the insurance rates now, and we will deal with the tax rates later,” he said.
Time to Address the Issue Countywide?
Commissioner Tim Lea suggested moving McLendon Hills into the Seven Lakes insurance district -- which would save residents money on their premiums -- while leaving them them in the Eagle Springs Fire District for tax purposes.
But Chairman Larry Caddell worried that that strategy could start the county down a slippery slope weighing similar requests.
“If you do that for McLendon Hills, then that whole area in question is going to come up next,” said Chairman Larry Caddell.
Fire Marshal Skipper recommended that the Commissioners hire a consulting firm to look at the fire insurance, fire protection, and fire tax districts throughout Moore County.
But the estimated $85,000 cost of the study gave Commissioner Craig Kennedy pause; he argued that the study could and should be handled “in-house.”
Regardless of the cost, Commissioner Jimmy Melton said an independent study should be conducted throughout the County to determine whether the current fire protection, fire insurance, and fire tax districts make sense.
Melton said an independent study would ensure that no one could say the study was not done “fairly.”
The Emergency Services Advisory Committee [ESAC] also recommended hiring a consultant to conduct a comprehensive study of the County’s current fire service operations, Skipper said.
The last time such a study was conducted was in 2004.
“No Board has been willing to deal with this because of the political heat,” said Commissioner Lea. “[We’re] going to have to deal with it sooner or later.”
He suggested that a flat fire tax throughout the County may be the best solution.
In the end the Commissioners tabled the request and asked Skipper and his staff to bring back further recommendations.
Commissioner Nick Picerno, a member of the McLendon Hills Property Owners Association, was recused from consideration of the request due to a conflict of interest.
