Right Minded Online

Mt. Juliet has been taking a beating, as usual, from those who are beset with property tax envy here in Wilson County. The latest to take the county’s largest city to task is William Farmer, who is running for mayor of Lebanon.

Mr. Farmer makes the years-old argument about the supposed tax inequity in Wilson County, whereas Lebanon has its own fire department, while Mt. Juliet does not, instead relying on the county for fire protection. The argument is that the taxpayers of Lebanon are paying for their own fire protection, and Mt. Juliet’s, too. Of course, Mt. Juliet is part of Wilson County, and we in Mt. Juliet do pay county property taxes, yet Mr. Farmer believes it is wrong for us to receive this county service. He’s not the only Lebanon politician to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.

Says Mr. Farmer, “The citizens of Lebanon are funding their fire service with $3 million in city tax dollars. Whereas the citizens of Mt. Juliet are not funding their fire services with their city tax dollars, it is being funded by tax funds from the county, which includes taxes paid by the residents of Lebanon. That is simply not fair.”

“As the county increases taxes over time, whether through impact fees or property taxes, the tax inequity for fire service between Lebanon residents and Mt. Juliet residents will increase as well.”

When a Lebanon politician complains about Lebanon taxpayers funding fire protection for Mt. Juliet, he is really complaining about funding the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency (WEMA). WEMA, of course, is the agency that provides fire protection for Mt. Juliet. In fact, WEMA provides an array of emergency services for all of Wilson County, incorporated and unincorporated. WEMA even provides emergency services for — gasp! — Lebanon. WEMA operates eight stations countywide, including one in Mt. Juliet, and one in Lebanon.

WEMA provides fire assistance in Lebanon when asked to help, performs a majority of the vehicle extrication calls throughout the county, and provides all of the ambulance service in the county. It is also worth noting that less than 6% of all calls WEMA has received this year have been fire-related, whereas nearly two-thirds have been ambulance calls. Therefore, as the percentages go, the taxpayers of Lebanon are getting very nearly the same level of service from WEMA that we in Mt. Juliet receive.

This issue, as always, boils down to property tax envy. Lebanon has a city property tax. Mt. Juliet does not. This really irritates the powers-that-be in Lebanon. Lebanon has a city fire department. That’s all well and good, but nowhere is it written that Mt. Juliet has to do whatever Lebanon does. We pay county property taxes in Mt. Juliet, and receive county services in return. For some reason, we are supposed to feel guilty about this.

Unfortunately, the attitude of some of Lebanon’s leaders seems to be “what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours.” Indeed, Mr. Farmer argues “Like many local governments, Lebanon has a serious challenge funding our budget, which includes our fire department. We cannot afford the inequities in the current system. If we cannot resolve this issue, then we need to eliminate the expense to the citizens of Lebanon of providing free fire protection to Mt. Juliet residents.”

I agree with William Farmer on his last point. The citizens of Lebanon should no longer be expected to provide free fire protection to the freeloading citizens of Mt. Juliet. So here’s my solution: WEMA’s annual operating budget is roughly $7 million. Since Lebanon makes up about 20% of Wilson County’s population, Lebanon’s taxpayers contribute some $1.4 million toward WEMA’s annual operations. So let’s give the taxpayers of Lebanon an aggregate $1.4 million cut in their county property taxes and pull WEMA completely out of Lebanon. After all, if Lebanon taxpayers don’t want to fund WEMA, which provides Mt. Juliet with its free fire protection, they shouldn’t have to. We will have achieved “tax equity,” and Mt. Juliet would still be without a city property tax.

This would get Lebanon completely out of the fire protection business outside its own city limits. Lebanon politicians would no longer have to be preoccupied with Mt. Juliet’s lack of a fire department, since fire protection outside Lebanon would no longer be of any concern whatsoever to anyone living in Lebanon. And never again would a Lebanon politician have any reason to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.