Taxation dispute now over between Covington, FD 12

  • February 1st, 2012

A historic agreement between the Covington Fire Department and St. Tammany Fire Protection District 12 was signed Monday morning, putting an end to decades-old turf disputes between the two government entities.

The intergovernmental agency agreement establishes the service areas of the Covington Fire Department and FD12 and ends a longstanding dispute over annexation and tax collection for the two entities.

“You have put your citizens first and put together a plan that serves everyone,” said St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, who was present for the signing.


Covington Fire Chief Richard Badon, left, and FD12 Chief Darrell Guilot shake hands at the signing of the agreement between the two entities. (Staff Photo by Debbie Glover)

Covington Mayor Mike Cooper and FD 12 Board Chairman Joe Mitternight signed the agreement, flanked by Covington Chief Richard Palmisano and FD 12 Chief Darrell Guilot.

“In the short time Pat has been president, it seems we have a friend in parish government to help us move together,” said Covington Councilman-At-Large Sam O’Keefe. “This is a situation we have been working on since 1987, and it’s a good agreement. The fire agencies have gotten together and worked for the betterment of the community. Thank you for working for our citizens.”

Councilman-at-large Lee Alexius added, “Kudos to Sam and his committee who have worked tirelessly on this agreement. We had some concerns, and the agreement is not ideal. By that, I mean there has been some give and take on both sides. There are still things to be worked out, but we are not letting the grass grow under our feet. There is already a meeting scheduled to iron out the details and resolve them. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Thank you to all parties,” said Cooper. “We have laid the foundation for any needed changes. We have worked together for a high level of enhanced service for the mutual benefit of the citizens with a partnership we hope we last well into the future.”

The agreement will ensure the withdrawal of lawsuits regarding taxation of annexed properties into the city that date back many years. The new agreement will set the date of Jan. 1, 2011, as the date by which fire millage will be determined. Properties within the city limits as defined on that date will be subjected to the ad valorem millage fire millage of Covington of 10 mills. Any property that was annexed after that date will be subjected to the FD 12 ad valorem millage or property tax of 25 mills.

Many of the problems over the past 20 years have resulted from the city’s annexation of property outside the city limits that was covered by FD12 and paying the 25 mills in ad valorem tax to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office for FD12 fire protection. As part of the city, the fire protection ad valorem tax collected by the Sheriff’s Office is 10 mills.

In some of these cases the property owners were being billed twice, and the result was lawsuits to determine who should give them fire protection and how much millage they should pay. This agreement addresses those issues.

The agreement states that as consideration for the “district providing fire protection services within the city of Covington and outside of the city’s service area, the city shall, within 60 days of receipt of its annual fire millage payments, remit to the district the collected city’s fire millage proceeds for all properties lying within the city limits of Covington as defined Jan. 1, 2011, but outside the city service area.”

The agreement also provides that “for the city providing fire protection services within the city service area but outside the city limits, the district shall, within 60 days of receipt of its annual millage payment, remit to the city the district’s collected tax proceeds for all properties lying within the city service area but outside the city limits as defined Jan. 1, 2011.”

In other words, there will be no more double taxation for residents, and the resulting lawsuits have all been dropped.

“Citizens in both FD12 and Covington Fire Department’s service areas will continue to receive excellent fire protection, including mutual aid, and we can all remain even more focused on protecting the public,” said Mitternight. “We are grateful to Mayor Cooper and to the City Council for working with us in this cooperative effort, and we’re excited to have finally resolved these issues.”

“We’re happy to be putting these issues behind us,” said Cooper, who led negotiations to end the longstanding dispute. “Our mission as public servants is to ensure the delivery of essential services while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This agreement advances that mission.”

Covington, FD12 Sign Agreement For Fire Service

  • January 30th, 2012

Covington Mayor Mike Cooper and Board Chairman Joe Mitternight of St. Tammany Fire Protection District 12 this morning signed an intergovernmental agreement to establish service areas of the City’s Fire Department and FD12 and end a longstanding dispute over annexation and tax collection for the two entities.

The agreement also ensures the withdrawal of half a dozen lawsuits pending against the City that were filed by FD12 over annexation disputes, and was approved unanimously by the City Council earlier this month.

“We’re happy to be putting these issues behind us,” said Cooper, who led negotiations to end the longstanding dispute.  “Our mission as public servants is to ensure the delivery of essential services while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.  This agreement advances that mission.”

“Citizens in both FD12 and Covington Fire Department’s service areas will continue to receive excellent fire protection, including mutual aid, and we can all remain even more focused on protecting the public,” said Mitternight.  “We are grateful to Mayor Cooper and to the City Council for working with us in this cooperative effort, and we’re excited to have finally resolved these issues.”

Parish President Pat Brister congratulated the the City and FD12.

“You put your citizens first and worked out a plan that serves everybody,” said Brister.

Parish Director of Fire Services John O’Neil, Covington City Council Chairman Lee Alexius and Vice-Chairman Sammy O’Keefe, Covington City Council members Rick Smith, John Callahan and Jerry Coner; Covington Fire Chief Richard Badon; FD commissioners Sonny Schwing, Jim Rappold and Tiger Taylor; FD12 Chief Darrell Guilot, Deputy Chief Stephen Krentel, and FD12 Administrator Ray Newton also attended the signing.

 

Media contacts:

Pam Keller

City of Covington

 

James Hartman

FD12

james@jameshartman.net

SIX FIRE DEPARTMENTS RESPOND TO COVINGTON-AREA HOUSE FIRE

  • January 6th, 2012

Firefighters from five area agencies responded to assist St. Tammany Fire District 12 personnel in extinguishing a house fire in the Crestwood subdivision this morning.

At approximately 8:28 a.m., callers to UniFire reported a home at 722 Penwood Drive was on fire.  FD12 units were on the scene at 8:34 and found the home heavily engulfed in flames.  The fire chief on the scene immediately requested assistance both to extinguish the blaze and protect other nearby structures.

Units from Covington Fire Department, along with Fire Districts 2, 4, 8 and 13 responded, and firefighters had the fire under control 39 minutes after arrival.

In addition to the four FD12 engines and the single rescue unit that responded, Fire District 4 dispatched two engines and the other responding agencies each sent one fire engine and personnel.

The home was heavily damaged.  Acadian Ambulance transported the homeowner to St. Tammany Parish Hospital with apparently minor injuries.  The cause remains under investigation by FD12.

“This is a tragic event for this family,” said FD12 Chief Darrell Guilott.  “We’re grateful for the assistance of our neighboring agencies, as greater manpower and equipment allowed us to more quickly and safely control the blaze and prevent damage to other homes nearby.”

The homeowner herself made the initial call to 911; multiple other calls from neighbors followed.

Attached photographs of the scene were provided by an area resident.

Media contact:  James Hartman, james@jameshartman.net or 504.458.4600.

 

Covington, FD12 reach agreement

  • January 6th, 2012

Covington, FD12 reach agreement

After a two and a half hour discussion on the 20 plus year controversy surrounding Fire District 12 and the Covington Fire District, an ordinance accepting an intergovernmental agreement which divides fire protection areas and provides fire tax millage areas between the two entities was accepted by the Covington City Council unanimously by a vote of 7-0 Tuesday night.

“I want to thank you all for working this out,” said former Mayor Keith Villere. In 1994-1995, we had the same issues. Do all properties have a hydrant? That’s a valid point to check out. I think automatic aid will be easier. In the future, we can move forward. It’s ridiculous to continue to fight. This way, we can become more efficient, more safe. We need to aggressively annex to encourage more sales tax. Put the past behind you. Tweak the issues. Amend it, but put it to rest.”

For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:

http://m.thesttammanynews.com/articles/2012/01/06/news/doc4f06445f49fc0439186239.txt

20-YEAR DISPUTE OVER TAXATION, FIRE SERVICE ENDS WITH COUNCIL VOTE

  • January 5th, 2012

For Immediate Release

Thursday, January 5, 2012

20-YEAR DISPUTE OVER TAXATION, FIRE SERVICE ENDS WITH COUNCIL VOTE

An ongoing legal dispute between the City of Covington and St. Tammany Fire Protection District
No. 12 has been ended with a unanimous vote of the City Council that allows the city to continue
growing while preserving the service areas of two fire departments and ensuring citizen tax dollars are
spent wisely.

On Tuesday night, the Covington City Council unanimously accepted a Cooperative Endeavor
Agreement crafted by Mayor Mike Cooper and Fire District 12 leadership that resolves a decades-old
dispute about tax collection and fire service.

“We have two responsibilities as public servants: public safety and stewardship of tax dollars,”
said FD12 Chief Darrell Guilott. “This action by the Council, after extensive negotiations, allows us to
more effectively accomplish both.”

FD12 was formed 28 years ago to serve a 65-square-mile area north, east and south of
Covington City Limits. As the city grew through annexation, some residents and businesses found
themselves taxed twice, as the voter-approved millages to fund FD12 were duplicated by City millages
that went into effect with annexation. As a result, citizens sued the City and FD12, FD12 sued the City,
and the Assessor’s Office was caught in the middle.

Prior to Cooper’s inauguration on July 1, 2011, he began talks with FD12 to resolve the dispute,
which was costing both entities legal fees and doing a disservice to the citizens served by both agencies.
After several months of discussion, the two reached an agreement last month to firmly establish
boundaries for fire service and, effectively, millage collection. The agreement approved on Tuesday
establishes firm boundaries for the Covington Fire Department and FD12’s respective service areas.

“This agreement does not affect the quality of service citizens receive,” Guilott said. “Mutual
aid agreements long in place ensure citizens both inside and outside Covington will receive high-quality
fire protection service. Rather, this agreement ensures that residents will not be double-taxed for that
service, and allows both agencies to operate at a high level with stable funding sources.”

Both the City and FD12 will maintain approximately the same level of millage collection, and the
City is in no way prevented from annexing property, whether residential or commercial. But as
Covington grows, FD12 revenue will not be diminished.

“This is truly an extraordinary ending to a long contention,” Guilott said. “We are so thankful to
Mayor Cooper for his work to resolve this issue, and to the City Council, whose members recognized the
importance of resolving the dispute.”

In the last year alone, six lawsuits were filed over the City’s growth and its impact on FD12

millage revenue. All of those suits are withdrawn after the execution of this agreement.

For more information,  find Fire District 12 on Facebook.

FireWorks Are a Big Part of New Year’s

  • January 2nd, 2012

Click here to view the story

http://www.abc26.com/videogallery/67076651/News/Fireworks-are-a-big-part-of-New-Years#gl-0

Early Morning House Fire Leaves Man Dead

  • January 2nd, 2012

View the report here

http://www.abc26.com/videogallery/67018139/News/Early-Morning-House-Fire-Leaves-One-Dead-Tyler-Wing-Reports-12-27#gl-0

Fire Marshall Blames Space Heater for Deadly LA Fire

  • December 29th, 2011

 

Officials from the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s Office believe a space heater cause a fire that killed a man, 60-year-old Michael Brown, on Tuesday morning, according to a report from the Slidell Sentry News.

The report indicated that firefighters from Fire District 12 and the Covington Fire Department responded to the home located near Covington after receiving reports of heavy smoke and flames coming from the structure. Neighbors reported to firefighters that someone was in the home.

As firefighters worked to contain the fire, they also searched but were unable to find anyone in the home. Despite the efforts of the crews at the incident, Brown’s body was found in the burned remains of the structure.

Covington Man Is Latest Victim In String of House Fires

  • December 28th, 2011

An early Tuesday morning house fire killed a long time resident of Covington.

For reasons unknown, 56 year old Michael Brown got trapped in his home when  it caught fire at 1:30 in the morning.
St. Tammany Fire District Chief Terry Stuard says the official cause is under investigation, “They did find a space heater close to some furniture around ten inches maybe a foot away.”

The State Fire Marshal says seven people died in house fires this holiday season.

The Red Cross is helping sixty five people displaced by eighteen fires.

“Christmas lights are a big one.  Candles.  No smoking in bed,” says Stuard.

The victim’s son Tyler Brown says his father worked selling parts at Baldwin Motors and was also an avid coin collector, “He really liked helping people.”

MAN DIES IN COVINGTON-AREA FIRE

  • December 27th, 2011

A Covington-area man was found dead early this morning after firefighters from two agencies extinguished a house fire.

At approximately 1:25 a.m. today, multiple callers to UniFire reported heavy smoke and flames coming from the residence at 72467 Goldfinch St., off Hwy. 36 near Covington.  Personnel from Fire Protection District 12 were on the scene in less than six minutes and found the structure in flames.  Firefighters attacked the blaze and ultimately contained it to one room.  Covington Fire Department responded to assist.

Neighbors said there was someone in the home and while firefighters were battling the blaze they checked rooms around the point of origin, finding no one.  After the fire was safely out, firefighters discovered the body, which had been unreachable amid the flames.

The home was equipped with smoke detectors, but firefighters do not know if they activated; the devices were melted from the extreme heat.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

Investigators from the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office removed the body.  Due to the condition of the remains, the Coroner will rely on forensic technology to positively identify the victim.  The Coroner will issue a press release once the victim as been identified.

A total of 16 firefighters responded to the incident, including two from the Covington Fire Department.

 

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