A public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 30, at the Cashiers-Glenville Recreation Center will take the public’s temperature on a proposed fire tax for Jackson County residents in the Cashiers-Highlands area. 

The county’s board of commissioners has been discussing the possibility of a fire tax for a few years, with the 2013 board even considering a referendum vote. The idea was discarded when it became clear that support for a fire tax was not unanimous among the county’s fire chiefs, but in January chiefs from the Cashiers and Cullowhee districts came to commissioners to say that something had to be done about their aging equipment, growing response time and difficulty attracting volunteers. Meanwhile, Macon County was pressing Jackson for help paying for fire services rendered to Jackson residents in the Highlands area who are more accessible to Macon County’s fire response than to Jackson’s. 

A tax for Cullowhee is not currently being considered, but a proposed fire tax would charge 2 cents per $100 of property value to Cashiers properties and 0.9 cents per $100 for properties in the Highlands area. Currently, Jackson County’s tax rate is 28 cents per $100 of home value.  

Residents can deliver comments, limited to three minutes apiece, at the meeting, or send written comments to Board Clerk Angie Winchester, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Sylva, North Carolina, 28779. Detailed information about the proposed tax is available through a link on the right-hand side of the page at www.jacksonnc.org. 

— By Holly Kays, staff writer