By Olivia Fowler
For The Courier

ofowler@thepccourier.com

COUNTY — Pickens County Council members revoked[cointent_lockedcontent] a controversial fire fee on unoccupied tracts of land Monday night during a special called meeting.

Council member Neil Smith of Liberty said the fee as discussed in meetings was not what council ended up with.

“We did a lousy job of implementing it,” he said.

He said the fire fee was intended to target property owners with large tracts of timber who paid no fees for fire protection.

However, information from the S.C. Forestry Service says the Forestry Service is responsible for fire control in all unincorporated areas in the state.

The S.C. Forestry Service is funded through state taxes.

Each year, about 30 homes statewide burn in wildfires.

Although timber tracts may have been council’s target, the fee was also applied to other agriculturally deferred property no matter what was being produced on it. Some landowners said the fire fee increased their tax burden by 900 percent whether or not their land was used for pasture, a hay field or crops.

There was a lot of public protest levied at council when tax notices arrived, and many landowners turned up to speak against the tax fee on unoccupied property during the public forum of Monday night’s regular meeting, but soon learned the fee had been revoked prior to the public forum.

Council chair Jennifer Willis said new tax notices will be going out with the fire fee removed, and anyone who has already paid the fee will have it returned.

She also said council will continue to work on finding an equitable way to fund the costs of fire services to all parts of the county.

Council members said one of the challenges with the issue is some fire districts within the county are funded with the help of millage and some with fees.

Council member Tom Ponder of Dacusville said another problem is that some fire districts have much smaller populations than others, which means there are fewer people to contribute to costs in those areas.

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