The City of Salisbury has proposed a new Fire and Life Safety Fee to all residents within the Salisbury Fire Service District.
The proposed Fire and Life Safety Fee would increase funding to the Salisbury Fire Department by a total of over $4.5 million, and allow the Department to ensure that the apparatus, equipment, and stations are the most up to date and are maintained in proper working order to best serve the residents of the Salisbury Fire District. Funding from the fee would ensure adequate staffing to handle an increased call volume expected with pending building permits and ensure units are available to respond to significant unplanned events (i.e. bomb threats, active assailant events, and mass casualty incidents).
The fee would only apply to residents of the Salisbury Fire Service District. The District includes all residents of the City of Salisbury and select areas of Wicomico County. To view the Salisbury Fire Service District map and determine if your property is affected by the Fire and Life Safety Fee, please click here.
FEE INFORMATION
| Commercial I, Commercial Condominium (CC), Country Club (CA), Industrial (I) | $300 |
| Residential (R), Commercial Residential (CR), Residential Condominium (U), Town House (TH) | $300 |
| Apartments (per unit) | $50 |
| Exempt (any, except City and County owned properties) | $300 |
| Land Only (Agricultural/Marsh) | $0 |
$100 per year might be reasonable, but definitely not $300. Many people can’t afford that
I agree. It’s time to DEFUND the fire department and go with Volunteers.
Take the $$$$ waisted from Democrat Pork to Pay for it !!!!!!
Get the Money from BIDEN & his Federal Govt !!!! He pisses away Trillions $$$$$$$$
This will be a fee, not a TAX. A building owner can not write it off their taxes. It will be due in July, it will be attached and billed by the City of Salisbury. We can’t stop it! Why aren’t people as MAD as me!!!
The City of Salisbury Fire Department accepted 4 million dollars of Grant Money to hire people in 2018 and 2021. They didn’t budget to keep paying these people, now it’s time to pay the piper and they are going to do it by taking from the building owners in the City of Salisbury. The City of Salisbury Council thinks this is swell and the people are stupid, one more thing to pull on the dummies whose streets they have let be screwed up. Why NOT?! Maybe they can get appointed to a Maryland State position too and leave this Stupid Town.
Squandered money on unused bike lanes, bloated administration, overrated festival, and more. For me this is a 30% tax increase.
For me, this would be taxation without representation. I live outside city limits, but appear to be in the zone that will be charged the fee. How could this possibly be legitimate? Can the city of Salisbury impose such a charge on residents of Florida? I get no vote in Salisbury so how can Salisbury impose this charge on me? My relatives live in another country. Can the city of Salisbury impose a fee on them too? This can’t be legal!!
Once it starts, the “fee” will never be reduced, only increased as SFD wants more expensive cool stuff.
how can the city of salisbury legally impose fees on those who do not live in city limits? That’s not legal is it? Of course that never stops demon crats. The city has no rights over my property but they want to charge me in case I ever need a fire department service (which I have not needed to this point in my life) since I am in their service area. I get they have jurisdiction over those in city limits, but question those fees for those who live outside city limits.
Why not recoup any extra costs to Salisbury from Ocean City?
We PAY TOO MUCH Already in damn taxes & many will have to Leave Salisbury City Limits !!!!!! FACT
Maybe Salisbury can steal money from residents to repave Mill Street
We pay too much already to D’Bury !!!!! The Water & Sewer Bill is OUTRAGIOUS & Too Much TAXES too !!!!
Take the MONEY WAISTED on Bike Lanes & Turn-Abouts to PAY FOR IT !!!!!!
A group of City of Salisbury residents will be going to the Council meeting Monday night to express our displeasure. Please post here so we can see how many we can count on. NO FEE!
Lets file a class action lawsuit and have our case heard in FEDERAL COURT in DC.
The Good Ole Boyz are at it again to give themselves bigger paycheck
what date and time and location is the Council Meeting Monday night? is it Salisbury city council? Thanks. i want to attend. Mrs. Tom
The rent is too damn high!
People are TAXED to Death Already !!!! NO FKKKING MORE can people stand !!!!!
This is RUSSIA & CHINA > YOU ARE NOT FREE !!!! Tax SLAVES
Why should the citizens of Salisbury pay when Hebron or Parsonsburg are called into help everytime there is a fire?
The County already reimburses the CITY when their equipment goes into the COUNTY. HOW STUPID ARE YOU PEOPLE? They use the equipment for their personal transportation with 4 other FIRE FIGHTERS riding around the CITY especially when COLLEGE is in session. They call it training which is total BS. They have to have high mileage to meet the requirements for new equipment they don’t need. This is what you get when you progressives abuse tax dollars. When was the last time the FIRE DEPT had a complete forensic audit. I remember when the full time forced out all VOLUNTEERS and stole the VOLUNTEERS money, property and equipment. The VOLUNTEERS were more responsible with the money and equipment. The City and FIRE DEPT leaders are thieves. BRING back the best FIRE FIGHTERS Salisbury MD ever had, the VOLUNTEERS and reimburse the money they stole from the VOLUNTEERS and their equipment and property. NO NEW TAXES / FEES MAKE THESE CROOKS BE RESPONSIBLE ARE QUIT ASAP.
Where is the SFD get the money for the 2 15 floor ladder truck for the new condos they are building in the middle of SALISBURY? Where are they going to park them, since there is no building big enough? Will the new buildings be paid for by the owners of these buildings are will the tax payer be stuck with the cost, since they will be for the city where these buildings are located? Salisbury is getting to be the GHETTOS OF THE EASTER SHORE. The HOMEBOYS are making the “BURY” like BALTIMORE and NY GHETTOS while they get TAX BREAKS which is total BS. DON”T SEND ME NO BILL cause you will not get paid. Just another ghetto project that nobody did a complete survey just like that useless FIRE BOAT that is probably still in dry dock since it was purchased. FOR ALL YOU USELESS POLITIANS WE ARE ALL NOT USELESS LIBERALS THAT ARE TO DUMB TO TIE THEIR OWN SHOES.
This is absurd, just absurd. There is so much waste, fraud, and abuse in government and they still want more to waste and spend. They never get enough, this will never end until people rise up and demand accountability in government. We are living in the most corrupt times that our country has ever seen and this is a good example of that.
The Salisbury Fire Department needs a professional manager without prior ties to the fire service to root out waste and inefficiency and to provide leadership untainted by past practices. It would be interesting to see what types and frequencies the fire, accident and ambulance calls amount to. It’s been in the hands of a self-serving group for quite some time, IMHO.
I think since the police chief is retiring SPD should be folded into the Sheriff’s Dept. and give us one jurisdiction with one group of police countywide. That’s a related topic.
I do not reside in the city and strenuously oppose any fee from Salisbury on non-residents. Period.
Why is the fee for multi-million dollar businesses and restaurants the same for single family homes? Are you going to do anything to protect the renters and make the slum lords pay the fee instead of just passing it on to the renters? What about elderly people on fixed incomes, will they be exempt? What about the nursing homes that call the ambulance 3 or 4 times a day, why do they not pay more? Is the college paying anything? The fee scale seems very illogical to me. I’m willing to pay my fair share to make sure the fire department has what they need, God forbid I should ever need them. However, I don’t see how I should be paying the same amount that Walmart and Home Depot are. There are many questions that need to be answered. Also, I’ve heard the county is going to implement this as well they just haven’t announced it yet. Anyone else hearing this?
What about all the volunteers in Salisbury? Oh YEAH they ran them off. Now who do they call when ever there is a house fire? The volunteers from surrounding companies. Hebron, Parsonsburg and Pittsville are constantly being called to standby in Salisbury. These are departments that get less funding and rely on the volunteers to raise funds. Funds that are being spent on a city that ran off their volunteers. Meanwhile Parsonsburg and Pittsville SHARE a paramedic and Willards and Powellville share a paramedic. Someone above mentioned the 2 new high rises in Salisbury. There WILL be more. They opened pandora’s box on that. They have limited the college and hospital for years on how high they can go….they can’t do that anymore now.
The City of Salisbury believes this rate is necessary to maintain the high quality of services provided by the Salisbury Fire Department, including award-winning services like the SWIFT Program, the Office of the Fire Marshal, and special operations such as haz-mat, rope rescue, trench rescue, and dive rescue.
all these things are so needed! NOT screwing the taxpayers and residents, how nice!
you people voted for this so you deserve to be screwed! enjoy it but dont forget to ask for a kiss!
this is exactly how Democrats try to resolve every problem and that is raise taxes and spend more of other people’s money. They never consider other options like cutting budgets and eliminating unnecsessary spending that is not needed. Anyone that votes for a Democrat deserves to be taxed into poverty because that is exactly what they are doing.
Oh, my goodness.. Y’all are just now understanding the colllateral effects of the high rise building (and another one in the works).. Have you yet noticed the effect on the electric bill?? And what about the additional burden on the sewage systems, as well as the upgrading of water service to provide sufficient water pressure to the top floors..? This means new , higher holding tanks and larger , more powerful water pumps to get the water into them.. This new fire equipment is needed ONLY to service a fire in the upper floors of the high rise buildings.. But all this will come to naught when the buildings are condemned due to the unstable (swamp) foundation. Have a nice day, taxpayers..
THis seems more like a tax than a fee as it’s universally applied. Why not implement a use fee, just like tolls, the people/businesses that utilize the service are charged and are accountable? I’ll tell you why, because these monies are going to be used to cover the massive over spending including the ladder trucks and storage facilities needed for Jake Day’s master plan. And guess what, it’s being spread on the backs of all of us at the luxury rate of $300 per year. Even renters will pay, as landlords will have to increase rents by at least $25 per month to cover this luxury tax.
… and yet, current data, reveals that not only has the rental vs owner % increased but so has the poverty rate.
what was the bull$hit speech of the last mayor, focusing in on increasing home ownership vs rentals? but yet, the rental % has increased more
then you have home flippers buying up affordable housing slapping a coat of paint on it and charging 150K more for it , making it unaffordable for lower income peeps to become home owners and forcing them in to unaffordable housing, therefore increasing the section 8 % in the community, which results in more poverty.
then you have the legal scam that you have to pay an application fee to even be considered for an apartment before you even get to see the apartment. which pads the management companies income by the thousands. $55 fee times 100 applicants is $5500, which out weights the pennies they charge landlords to manage their apts. should be illegal
They can call it what they want.
Its a tax
Don’t we already pay for this thru taxes? Isnt this a city service already provided to the citizens because we already pay for it? Why are we paying twice?
“Through this fee, all residents within the District (see map here) would be provided with full and complete fire protection and rescue services, EMS response and transport, advanced life support and transport, and advanced operations from the Salisbury Fire Department.”
I guess years of paying for the ridiculous folked festival, wasted money that should have been used to protect its citizens.
Oh but wait!!!!
They elite gaggle of fire fighters, ems, and other staff feel they shouldn’t have to pay property taxes like the rest of us peons!
Thats a coming, you just wait!!!
Day bankrupted the city, and now the city council is trying to scramble to impose a new tax masked as a “fee” to further stick it to the taxpayers. Our city taxes pay for infrastructure, including the fire department. The real story is that the city gave a 20 year tax credit to investor-developers at the expense of the taxpayers under the Horizon Program. Now that the ROSS building is underway (Soon to be section 8 housing), they now have to make up for the lost tax revenue. If it was like $25 bucks, no big deal. However, $300 is absurd. This will drive up rents across the city. People will leave if they have to pay this. People can’t afford to pay the debt of Jake Gay’s utopia.
Show up to the City Council meeting on Monday April 24, 2023 @ 6:00PM and give em hell!