Six weeks before the deadline, Bulloch County commissioners formally abolished the separate Statesboro and Rural Fire Tax Districts and established a new county fire tax district, effective July 1. It will levy a single fire service millage rate to support the Bulloch County Fire Department.

But commissioners have yet to decide what that rate will be.

Within the Statesboro Fire District, also known as the “five-mile district,” the county government most recently collected a 2.7-mill tax and forwarded most of the resulting revenue to the city for the Statesboro Fire Department’s service into the county for five miles from the SFD’s two stations. Meanwhile, property owners in the Rural Fire District – comprising the rest of the county outside Statesboro – paid a 3.0-mill tax to fund the Bulloch County Fire Department, transitioning for years now from previous all-volunteer status to a combination service with increasing numbers of full-time career firefighters.

Since the commissioners issued a notice to the city in December, the intergovernmental agreement for the Statesboro Fire Department’s service to the five-mile district has been on track to expire June 30. The city did not accept the county’s offer of a one-year phase-out with each department getting about half the district and half its revenue until the middle of 2026.

Countywide fire district

In a late-stage formality of the county’s divorce from the SFD, the Board of Commissioners approved three resolutions during the May 20 meeting. The first resolution formally abolishes the -five-mile Statesboro Fire Tax District, effective June 30. A second resolution abolishes the Rural Fire Tax District, which included not only the entire unincorporated area of the county but also the cities of Brooklet, Portal and Register.

Finally, a third resolution replaces the two previous special tax districts, as of July 1, 2025, with a with a single fire tax district.

A key passage in that resolution states: “(T)here shall be and is hereby established a special district within Bulloch County consisting of the entire unincorporated area of Bulloch County and those areas of Bulloch County within the municipal limits of Brooklet, Portal, and Register, said special district to be known as the ‘Bulloch County Fire Tax District.’”

In other words, only Statesboro is excluded from that district. Statesboro will continue to be served by the Statesboro Fire Department, supported by city tax and potentially by a fire service fee the city government is considering.

The county commissioners approved all three resolutions unanimously, on separate motions with 6-0 votes, but only after some discussion of the fire service millage rate. Chairman David Bennett noted that property owners in the county’s previous “Statesboro” and “rural” districts had been paying two different rates.

“What’s going to happen with this, if both of these motions pass, Number 1 and 2, is we will terminate the Statesboro Fire Tax District and the Rural Fire Tax District, and then with item Number 3 we will have one fire district that will have one set rate for the entire county for everything outside of the city of Statesboro,” he said.

What’s the tax rate?

Commissioner Nick Newkirk then asked the obvious question.

“Do we know what the new tax will be?” he said. “Because I know right now the five-mile is 2.7 (mills) and the rural is 3. I’m assuming we’re moving everything to a 2.7 so we don’t have a tax increase.”

However, county Chief Financial Officer Kristie King noted that the higher rate had been used in calculations for the county’s fire fund budget. The commissioners in March approved the addition of 37 new, full-time firefighter positions beginning with the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which ends June 30. The commissioners also approved raises to the BCFD averaging a little over 5% to help with recruiting.

King and other staff members have since been working on the tentative budget for fiscal year 2026, now posted online but awaiting the commissioners’ approval at a June meeting.

“I currently in the tentative budget have left it at 3 mills,” King said, after Newkirk’s question. “Based on the digest numbers that have been provided by the tax assessors’ office, I would not recommend going down to 2.7 mills. That would greatly strain the ability to pay the current employees that we have just hired to service the entire district.

“A small decrease from 3 possibly could be accomplished, but I would not recommend going any lower than 2.9,” she said.

In his next comment, Newkirk alluded to concerns that the change from the Statesboro Fire Department to the Bulloch County Fire Department will bring higher insurance rates for residents and property owners in the former five-mile district. The SFD, after arrangements for improved water sources, has provided the area a next-to-best possible Insurance Services Office, or ISO, fire protection rating of “2.” The Bulloch County Fire Department has so far provided a split 4/4Y rating within five miles of its stations, while areas of the county more than five miles from any fire station still have a “10” for no recognized public fire protection.

“So, the five-mile radius is going to get a tax increase, and until the ISO ratings come down, the ISO rating are going to go up,” Newkirk said. “I just want to make sure that was clear.”

No rate set yet

County Attorney Jeff Akins then said, “Well, you’re not deciding what the millage rate is going to be today. You’re just eliminating two tax districts and creating another one. That’s all you’re doing today.”

“That’s correct,” King told the commissioners, “and you all will have the ability to set the millage rate at what you want it to be.”

Although the commissioners are expected to adopt the fiscal 2026 budget this month, the millage rates would typically be set in August, when taxpayer appeals of assessments to the Board of Assessors and staff have been completed.

The regular tax rate for county government operations – other than fire service – is currently 11.35 mills, and the fire tax rate, whether 3.0 or 2.7 mills or something in between, will be added to that and also to the school maintenance and operations millage set by the Board of Education. With a mill being 1/1000th the value of taxable property, assessed in Georgia at 40% of market value, a 3-mill fire tax amounts to $120 on each $100,000 worth of property, and the difference between a 2.7-mill tax and a 3-mill tax on that property is $12.

Besides city taxes, owners of property within Statesboro pay county property tax for support of other countywide services, including public safety services such as those provided by the Emergency Medical Service and Sheriff’s Office. But Statesboro, with its longer established city fire department, is exempt from property taxes used for operation of the county fire service, and this was already the case.

People who shop anywhere in the county help pay for stations and equipment for both departments through the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.