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With Frederick County's current fire tax system under review by the Board of County Commissioners, Emmitsburg officials have made a stand against it.

Commissioner John "Lennie" Thompson Jr.'s proposal for each of the county's fire and rescue companies' first-due call areas to have an individual tax rate would be detrimental to Emmitsburg, they say.

Under the proposed system, some areas could pay as much as 31.6 cents or as little as 5.8 cents for every $100 of assessed property value, according to county budget officer Mike Gastley. He predicted Emmitsburg's rate would be about 22.5 cents, raising it by nearly 80 percent from the current 12.8-cent rate.

Emmitsburg's issue lies in the fact that many large property owners in the town's taxable area don't have to pay taxes. Educational, religious, benevolent and fraternal organizations are exempt from paying property taxes by state law, according to Doris White, supervisor of assessments for Frederick County.

Since the fire tax is part of the property tax, Emmitsburg organizations such as Mount St. Mary's University, the National Fire Academy and the Seton Center would be exempt from payment, putting a greater financial burden on town residents who are required to pay taxes, according to Emmitsburg Commissioner Chris Staiger.

The county's current fire tax system uses both urban and suburban fire tax districts. The urban districts have round-the-clock paid firefighter or emergency personnel positions, while suburban districts have 12-hour, five-day-per-week paid positions.

Residents of suburban districts, which includes Walkersville, Brunswick, Lewistown, Middletown and Thurmont, pay 8 cents for every $100 of assessed property value. Residents of urban districts, which includes Emmitsburg, Frederick, Green Valley, Jefferson, Libertytown, Myersville, Point of Rocks and Urbana, pay 12.8 cents for every $100 of assessed value.

Thompson's plan would lower rates for towns such as Walkersville and Thurmont, whose fire companies pay for the bulk of their equipment with money from community fundraisers and use very little tax money.

Walkersville's Volunteer Fire Company recently presented county commissioners with a petition, signed by 2,638 of property owners in its first-due call area, in favor of an individual fire tax district for the area. Jim Graham, the company's treasurer, said for every $1.2 million that residents in Walkersville's response area pay in fire taxes per year, the fire company only receives about $300,000 back.

In short, Walkersville's first-due call area residents' tax dollars go to companies in other areas to pay for their buildings, services and equipment. The county is home to 21 separate fire and rescue first-due call areas.

But the same 21-district system that would give Walkersville the most equitable fire tax rate possible would increase Emmitsburg's unfairly because of the tax-exempt organizations the town houses, Staiger said.

"These are not local institutions; these are county and even regional institutions," he said of the tax-exempt properties.

"They're not Emmitsburg specific institutions ... we should all be responsible for carrying the burden," he added. "[Providing fire and rescue services to the institutions] needs to be financed countywide."

A letter written to the county and signed by Emmitsburg Mayor James Hoover on Dec. 23, says that the town does not support the proposed plan, and instead would like to see the cost of fire and rescue services in the county be included as part of the general fund, similar to police services.

Thompson said he believes organizations that are exempt from property taxes should still be subject to the fire tax because they receive services from the town's fire company. However, the Board of County Commissioners does not have the power to enact such a system.

Given a choice, president Frank Davis of the Vigilant Hose Company in Emmitsburg said the station would support a flat, countywide rate.

"I don't agree with the concept that Walkersville is trying to put through," Davis said. "Just because you don't have a library card, they don't refund your tax money because you don't use the library or just because you don't have kids that go to public school, they don't refund your tax money back there," he added.

"So we feel that the fire service is a service to the whole community. You never know if a ladder truck from Emmitsburg is going to end up in Frederick or a ladder truck from Walkersville is going to end up in Emmitsburg and it just should be all one system, everybody should be paying the same thing is how we see it."

Davis also said that the tax-exempt organizations such as Mount St. Mary's University and the National Fire Academy do support the Vigilant Hose Company along with the rest of the community, but their monetary contributions don't add up to what they would be required to pay if they were taxable property owners.

E-mail Courtney Pomeroy at cpomeroy@gazette.net.