Fire tax to go up 2 cents for Olympia district in Pamlico

The fire tax for the Olympia volunteer department's district will increase 2 cents beginning in July.

The increase is to make up for inflated property value figures supplied to the district when it sought the special tax in 2006.

County Manager Tim Buck, then the county tax administrator, said the values were about $10 million over actual value, which caused the department to have inflated revenue projections.

Buck said Tuesday that the extra 2 cents would bring the department about $4,000 annually. The original 5-cent tax had projected $16,000 in annual revenue. Chief Robert Mills said it had generated about $13,000 yearly.

He said he had received no opposition to the tax increase.

The tax rate, now 7 cents per $100 valuation, is included in the county's 2007-08 budget, which is set for passage Monday.

No one came to speak in opposition to the tax increase at a recent public hearing on the county budget.

In 2006, Olympia, Vandemere and Araprahoe initiated a fire tax to help pay growing costs of equipment, training and insurance for their volunteer efforts.

Olympia was the only one of the three to put the issue to a vote, gaining a ballot spot with a petition of 125 property owners who approved the tax. It won overwhelming approval from residents in the May 2006 primary.

Buck, who is a member of the Olympia department, said the volunteers recently purchased a new fire truck from the Arapahoe department for $40,000.

Mills said the 1993 pumper was a major improvement for the 23-man department. It replaced a 1976 model.

Of the county's nine volunteer fire departments, only Goose Creek Island does not have a fire tax.

All of the fire units also receive about $7,000 annually in county funding.

The final budget vote comes Monday in a 7 p.m. commissioners' meeting on the second floor of the county courthouse in Bayboro.