Orangeburg City Council wants to try again on creating fire district

City Council gave unanimous first reading by title only to an ordinance ending the issuance of individual fire contracts. The ordinance requires three readings.

“We are still trying to work out an agreement with the county,” Orangeburg City Administrator Sidney Evering said. “We have first reading in title only just to keep the ball moving in case we are able to get to an agreement, but we are not at an agreement as of yet. We are still negotiating.”

City Council met behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss options for an agreement.

“There are some things we are looking to change: potentially the terms of the agreement and how long it will be and the amount of the payment,” Evering said. “That is still subject to negotiation.”

Evering said negotiation terms will be shared with the county. Orangeburg County has not publicly discussed the fire contract issue recently.

The city and county councils have been discussing how to handle fire response and service for several years and have struggled to come to an agreement that would be financially acceptable to both bodies and beneficial to homeowners.

Property owners within the city pay for fire service through their taxes.

The city currently provides fire service in an area within five miles of the city limits but it does not tax property owners for the service. Instead, property owners are supposed to buy fire contracts – but not everyone does.

This means the cost for those who do buy a contract has continued to increase.

Residents who don’t buy contracts still receive fire protection, but they don’t receive the benefit of a loss report from the city, impacting their insurance coverage.

There are also properties within the city fire service area that are more than five miles from a city fire station and as a result have a Class 10 Insurance Service Office rating. To an insurance company, this basically means the house is not protected.

The initial proposal would have the county’s fire district cover these Class 10 properties as well as create a fire tax district for the entire area within five miles of the city limits. The fire tax district would mean an end to individual fire contracts and individuals within five miles of the city limits would be taxed for fire service.

The latest effort at trying to get the issue resolved was two years ago when Orangeburg County agreed to enter into an agreement with the city, only to have the city halt the process.

City officials at that time were concerned about the amount of money or payment that would be received from the county and whether that would be sufficient. The city also had concerns about having to give up its ability to service the district at the end of the agreement.