Walthourville’s fire fee has been extinguished.
In a special called meeting September 2, Walthourville City Council voted 4-0 to abolish the fire fee it charged to Walthourville and Allenhurst residents, effective October 1.
A class action lawsuit against the fire fee was filed last week against the city, claiming the fire fee was an illegal tax imposed on the property owners and water and sewer customers of the city.
In a 4-0 vote at the special called meeting, council members agreed to make payments of $200,000 on June 1, 2027 and $200,000 on December 1, 2027 to the affected members of the class and to make full settlement of the suit.
The class action lawsuit was filed September 2 and the plaintiffs argued the fire fee is not a fee but a tax.
“The fire fee is an illegal tax levied and collected” by the city, the suit charged.
Walthourville City Council adopted the fire fee in December 2023 but did not collect the fees in either January or February 2024. It then adjusted the fees – which were $25 a month for residential properties – to $31.60 a month from March through December of that year.
Under the fire fee ordinance, residential properties were being charged $25 a month, or an annual fee of $294. For commercial properties, the fee was $150 a month, or $1,764 annually, and for industrial properties, the fee was $250 a month, or $2,940 per year.
The fire fee was charged to all properties within the city limits and that were connected to city water and sewer service, except for vacant lots.
But the lawsuit charged that the fire fee was a tax and not a fee and that the fee was imposed regardless of a property’s size, value or use.
“The fee is based on the payer’s ability to pay, rather than on the value of assessed property,” according to the lawsuit. “The fire fee is a mechanism the city is using to raise general revenues for its general fund, rather than charge for a particular measurable service. The fire fee provides no special benefit – the same benefits are received for those who pay and do not pay.”
The suit also contends that the “inherent power to tax belongs to the General Assembly – not the city.”
Also in the complaint, the plaintiffs argued the state constitution and law says taxation of property “is required to be ad valorem – that is, based on the property value.”
“The fire fee is an illegal tax to fund a core government function without regard to the value of the property being taxed,” the suit said.
The attorneys for the class action suit were Roberts Tate LLC of St. Simons Island and Manly Shipley LLC of Savannah, who also won a $5 million settlement from the City of Richmond Hill in a complaint against its fire fee.
According to Savannah Agenda, Garden City also ended its fire fee in December 2025, setting aside $1.4 million to partially refund residents and businesses following the decision to settle a class action lawsuit. Long County also has agreed to establish a $500,000 fund to refund fire fees collected after its fire fee ordinance was challenged in court.