More than a decade after Orangeburg County established a county-funded fire service, the issue of how to pay for fire protection outside Orangeburg’s city limits continues to burn.

City and county officials have had some recent discussions on the issue.

“Our position has been for the county to do a special fire tax district here like they did for the rest of the county, by ordinance,” Orangeburg City Administrator John Yow said. “The question we have is why create fire districts in 90 percent of the county through this method while holding another area to a different standard? Why would you want to treat one area differently from another area?”

The cost of fire service for Orangeburg residents is covered by city taxes. Others served by the city but living outside the city limits buy an annual contract for protection — but less than half pay the fee that is based on square footage and classification.

Those who are served by other fire departments pay the county’s 17-mill fire tax, except for those who live in the Santee fire district.

Yow says the city collects approximately $800,000 annually from fire contracts but that isn’t enough to cover the cost of suburban fire protection.

“Over 60 percent of our fire calls still come from outside the city,” Yow said. “It’s not fair and equitable for some businesses and homeowners to be paying a fire contract and others aren’t. There are some persons who are gambling and not paying their fair share of anything.”

The city does charge a penalty if it fights a fire on suburban property not covered by a fire contract.

Orangeburg County Fire System Coordinator Gene Ball says it would be in the best interest of the city and the fire service to have a system in place for suburban fire protection.

“There wouldn’t be any additional problems for the fire service to have a special fire tax district established in the city suburbs,” Ball said. “The contract system is really not a good system at all.”

If the city refused to serve the people who haven’t purchased contracts, its ISO rating could be harmed, Ball said. The ISO rating is used in determining homeowner insurance rates.

“Those people outside the city that are in the city’s fire service area are getting the benefit of the ISO rating on their insurance rates,” he said. “In every area in the county there needs to be something there in place to mandate fire protection.

“There needs to be a meeting of the minds on how that can be accomplished.”

Orangeburg County Councilman Clyde Livingston says he wants people to have a say before they’re taxed for fire service. The majority of his council district is part of the suburban fire protection area.

“It’s up to the people out there. I am not in favor of levying new taxes on those people if they don’t vote for it,” Livingston said. “In the past the city has wanted taxation without representation, and the last time I checked we fought a war over that.

“We have always been in favor of holding a referendum regarding a special fire tax district. We would never say no to that and would help facilitate the process.”

Two other county councilmen whose districts are partially covered by the city’s fire protection area, Willie B. Owens and Janie Cooper, said the issue hasn’t been placed on the agenda for discussion.

“It’s just talk right now,” Cooper said. “It was casually mentioned a couple of months ago but nothing more concrete than that.”

Yow says the county has cooperated with the city on two suburban fire substations built in recent years, which the city has equipped and staffed. However, aging city fire equipment that must be replaced may put the funding situation on the front burner soon.

“The possibility of another ISO inspection coming up in the next two years will make us look at this very hard,” Yow said. “We are definitely interested in continuing our fire protection services to areas outside of the city. We simply want to work the details out with the county.”

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540.

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