Sep 1, 2020 2 min read

So many times we have to wonder what does a tax really pay for and who must pay, and why. Recently, a legal notice appeared in the Observer-Reporter that North Franklin Township is considering an ordinance to charge a “fire response fee” based upon each response by a qualified volunteer of the North Franklin Volunteer Fire Company. This is a similar fee charged to all users, by Comcast, for television services.

North Franklin, like all municipalities in our state, are permitted to use a property tax for their revenue, as well as the 1% earned income tax. The revenues supports various expenses, better known as the municipality’s annual budget. But North Franklin has some differences to lead one to believe the property tax versus services may be out of line. Further, the $52 per year employment fee, paid by most employees within the municipality, must leave many North Franklin property owners or renters, working within their home municipality, wondering what extra special service(s) by the township requires this fee. I believe the $52 fee was to support some of the cost for police and fire protection while working in a local business. Since its enactment, North Franklin supervisors eliminated the services of the municipal police.

The township has road boundaries serviced by the state. Residents living along Route 18, Park Avenue, Franklin Farms Road, Route 40, Chestnut Street and South Main Street receive no township road maintenance but costs are shared through all property taxes paid to the township. These are state-owned roads.

A couple years ago, the supervisors dissolved the police department and equipment without any tax reduction. The fire department is supported by an allotment in each annual municipal budget. Fire hydrants and streetlights, in view, are limited throughout the township and the cost is paid through the property tax instead of a streetlight or hydrant tax, owed by property owners living within certain feet of a regular streetlight (not dawn lights), and/or a hydrant.

If the Comcast monthly fee from users is legal, I am sure the proposed fire response fee will be, too. This should leave property owners in North Franklin, who lost their police department without a reduction in property taxes, wondering how fair is taxation and services in this municipality?

Joann Diesel

Houston