Walker County weighs raising public‑safety fee, adding firefighters to reduce general‑fund burden

County financial staff told the Walker County Board of Commissioners that one viable option to reduce the general‑fund subsidy for fire services is to increase the public‑safety fee and revise its structure to collect more from commercial properties.

Christian Roach, the county CFO, said the general fund currently supplements the fire department with a transfer of $1.8 million and that the public‑safety fee — which the county intended to fund the fire fund — could be increased to recover that amount. Roach said staff calculated scenarios that would allow the county to restore several firefighter positions while adding only modest costs per household depending on the mix of fee increases and staffing restorations. "We could look at increasing the public safety fee if that is an option," Roach said.

A staff participant (S5) described the county’s current fire‑fee structure as 14¢ per square foot with a cap for large commercial properties and suggested raising commercial rates to yield more revenue while leaving residential rates lower. "Right now, our fire safety fee is 14¢ per square foot across the board," the participant said, noting other jurisdictions charge slightly higher residential rates and typically impose higher commercial tiers.

Commissioners discussed tradeoffs: raising fees or targeted millage adjustments would produce revenue without fully reverting to the highest departmental request, but shifting costs to a flat fee or commercial‑tier changes changes distribution of burden across property types. Commissioners expressed support for restoring key public‑safety positions in principle: one commissioner argued adding the recommended firefighter positions would "save people's lives," while others emphasized modeling the household impacts before choosing a path.

Roach said staff will include fee‑increase options, commercial‑tier alternatives and plug‑and‑play outputs showing household impacts when he returns with updated proposals at the July 9 meeting.