Minutes 11-17-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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apparatus and equipment. This approval allowed the Department of Insurance to_extend the East Orange Insurance District, which is now adjacent to the Caldwell Fire Insurance District. Certain properties in the southeast section of the Caldwell Fire District are over six (6) road ; miles from the Caldwell Fire Station located on Guess Road. As a result, those properties were ' not in an insurance district, rated as Class 10. Staff worked with representatives from the Caldwell Fire Department and the Department of Insurance to identify those affected areas. ` Staff also worked with Information Technologies' Geographic Information Systems (GIS) personnel to identify those parcels in the Caldwell Fire District that are not in the Caldwell Fire Insurance District and moved those parcels into the East Orange Insurance District, which is a Class 9 District, thereby allowing those property owners to be inside a rated insurance district. GIS staff produced a revised map of the East Orange Insurance District, showing those parcels being added into the East Orange Fire Insurance District. The revised map was approved by staff from the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Office of the State Fire Marshal, Ratings and Inspections Division. On April 19, 2011 the Board of the County Commissioners approved the fire insurance changes and the approved maps were forwarded to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The Office of the State Fire Marshal approved the changes which became effective November 1, 2011. There are approximately 1,156 properties in Orange County located outside of six road miles from the closest fire station in their fire district and therefore have a fire insurance rating of 10. Approximately 900 of these property owners could be helped by the realignment of existing fire insurance districts. The process of moving a property from one fire insurance district to another to help the property owner secure a better fire insurance rating can be accomplished, but the result has raised issues of equal protection and property tax fairness for home owners. The realignment of fire insurance districts between Caldwell and East Orange was accomplished without any reallocation of Fire District Tax revenues. This may create legal issues as discussed by the attached County Attorney's memorandum dated September 1, 2011. On September 13, 2011 the Board was presented options for changing fire districts to improve insurance ratings for the 1,156 properties located outside of six road miles from the closest fire station located in their fire insurance district. The County Attorney's memorandum dated September 1, 2011 provides a legal opinion for fire protection tax districts, and the available options are listed below: 1. Realign Fire Insurance District boundaries without changing Fire Tax Districts. 2. Change existing Fire Protection Districts, which would also change the Fire Tax Districts. 3. Establish one or more Fire Service Districts to replace or overlay existing Fire Protection Districts which could also change Fire Tax Districts. Fire Department Contracts The realignment of the Caldwell Fire Insurance District and the East Orange Fire Insurance District has raised the question of the status of Fire Department contracts in Orange County. Most Fire Department contracts were last updated in 1992. Attached is the contract between the Caldwell Fire Department and Orange County dated May 18, 1992. With a few exceptions, most atl fire contracts are identical to the attached contract for Caldwell Fire Department. The contract provides for basic fire protection and includes a provision for the Fire Department to