Parties to meet soon on fire district spat

At the Feb. 13 meeting of the St. Mary Parish Council, Fire Protection Dist. 11 Chief Clarence Clark said his department has been answering calls to a business not in the boundaries of the district for many years.
Clark sought some $15,000 in revenue that goes to Fire Protection Dist. 1, the Cypremort Point area, for servicing Compass Minerals Cote Blanche Mine. The chief said that amounts to some $440,000 since 1983, but did not request retroactive funds past the most recent.
Dist. 11 runs 911 calls and such services as hydrant testing, employee training and more, without charge. A longtime employee said Dist. 11 has never responded to a call to the island that he is aware of. Dist. 1 services an approximate area south of US 90.
Records from the 911 system in St. Mary Parish show 19 official calls since 2013:
—Nov. 15, 2013, a man with chest pains.
—May 10, 2013, a man hit with stray buckshot.
—April 16, 2013, someone was hit in the head with a scale.
—March 26, 2013, a male collapsed.
—Sept. 11, 2014, male suffered crushed hand.
—July 24, 2014, someone fell.
—April 26, 2014, someone fell.
—March 20, 2014, grass fire.
—Nov. 7, 2014, car submerged.
—Sept. 21, 2015, heat stroke.
—July 24, 2015, seizure.
—July 12, 2015, patient light headed.
—Jan. 24, 2015, a miner was injured.
—Feb. 18, 2017, chest pains.
—Feb. 9, 2017, male subject injured.
—Jan. 25, 2017, vehicle in water.
—Jan. 4, 2017, employee exposed to chemical.
—Jan. 11, 2018, ill employee.
—April 5, 2018, ill employee.
However, there are other services provided by Dist. 11 to the mine which are not 911 call-outs.
The most recent audit of Dist. 1 shows cash and cash equivalents of $523,034; investments of $340,021; $53,158 in ad valorem taxes; and capital assets with net accumulated depreciation of $466,966, for total assets of $1,383,159. Liabilities are $1,762 and net position is $1,381,398.
Fire Dist. 11’s most recent audit shows:
$68,275 in cash and cash equivalents; $366,064 in investments; $16,494 in prepaid insurance; $2,141 “other” for $452,974 total current assets.
Adding in noncurrent capital assets of land, $5,000; net of accumulated depreciation of $682,549 and net assets of $687,549, total assets are $1,140,523. With liabilities of $63,893 considered, the district’s net position was $969,630.
Clark also mentioned his district’s fire rating is a 5, the other is a 9.
A meeting between the two fire districts, the parish and the mine was settled upon at the Feb. 13 meeting, though no date has been announced.
Though there are reportedly various options to work out the situation possible, such as cooperative governmental agreements, a re-districting of the island from Dist. 1 to Dist. 11 would likely result in Compass Minerals leaving a 2 mils tax district to a 12.81 mils district, raising a current tax payment of about $15,000 a year to approximately $97,000.
Coincidentally, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office this month released an opinion regarding Catahoula Parish Fire Protection District No. 2 and Catahoula Parish Fire Protection District No. 4. The opinion is that Dist. 4 may enter into an agreement whereby District 2 reimburses District 4 for fire protection services so long as it has a demonstrable, objective, and reasonable expectation that it has received equivalent value in exchange for the expenditure of public funds.
In addition, District 2 may use ad valorem taxes to reimburse District 4 for fire protection services as long as that use is consistent with the ballot language as presented to the voters.