Check in the mail: Chatham Fire to issue refunds to former fire services subscribers tomorrow
Chatham Fire will begin mailing out refunds to former fire services subscribers on Wednesday, according to a Tuesday press release.
In total, 12,147 pro-rated fire subscription refund checks — which will range from less than ten cents to $26,363 — will be issued. Chatham Fire will be refunding $1,127,157 countywide. Chatham Fire's release said the process to mail out all of the refund checks will take at least two full weeks.
In May, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners ended a nearly two-year saga over the implementation of a fire tax or fee by adopting a fire service fee for unincorporated Chatham County property owners. It repealed a fire tax proposed by the commission in December and replaced it with a fire services fee ordinance.
Previous reporting: After nearly two years, Chatham County adopts fire fee for unincorporated area
Also: Chatham County Commission approves fire services contract, fee or tax on the horizon
At that meeting, on Dec. 17, 2021, the Chatham Board of Commissioners officially approved a contract with Chatham Emergency Services (CES), which serves as an umbrella for Chatham Fire and Chatham EMS, for fire protection services, with the caveat that former paying customers who paid their bill to Chatham Fire after July 1, 2021, must be refunded.
"Every penny must, and will be refunded," the release read.
The fee or tax was a solution proposal for budget shortfalls for the agency, which came after about 10,000 unincorporated Chatham County residents who are serviced by Chatham Fire didn't pay the fire subscription fee — about one-third of the unincorporated residents the department serves.
The Chatham Board of County Commissioners will begin collecting fire fees from unincorporated property owners in Chatham Fire’s five fire districts later this year.
Why do we pay a fire fee?
Chatham Fire, formerly known as Southside Fire, is a private business that long operated on a subscription-based revenue model. The department services about 36,000 properties in the unincorporated area, but only about 28,000 of those were paying the required fire service subscription fee.
"The lack of paid subscription fees placed a tremendous financial burden on the fire department and threatened its survival," the release read.
Adam Van Brimmer: Chatham Commission should fight fire with fire - a fee or a tax, not an ordinance
The discrepancies were found in 2019 after Chatham Fire switched billing software. Officials took their concerns to county leadership, which prompted numerous workshops, district meetings and a resident survey.
The county explored several different options, including a fire fee charged on county property tax bills, developing fire service contracts and the county forming its own fire department.
Starting in February, Chatham Fire began providing the county with an invoice for actual fire service expenses incurred during the previous month. The department is also required to provide an annual budget to County Manager Lee Smith each March for the annual period starting July 1 along with quarterly financial and operating reports.
Information on the proposed, new fire fees can be found on the Chatham County Commission webpage: chathamcountyga.gov/ourcounty/fireservices. Residents may also email questions to firefee@chathamcounty.org.
Will Peebles is the city/county reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Chatham Fire begins mailing refund checks to former subscribers
