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Generally there may be a contentious moment or two during a City Council meeting. Last night, the challenges began before anyone even entered the meeting room.

A Marco Island Police cruiser sat barricading the entrance to the parking lot next door to where City Council meets. The lot, belonging to physician Andrew Guidry, is part of the property at 19 Bald Eagle Drive near the police and fire departments.

Guidry donated the land for the police department and according to city officials had a verbal agreement to supply overflow parking in exchange for the city providing lights in the lot and the payment of the electric bill for their use.

Guidry vied and lost a run for a City Council seat in the last election. Since late March, shortly after the election, Guidry and the city have had challenges pertaining to the lot, including a sign in the lot that read “Parking $20” at a previous council meeting.

In an apparent escalation of the issue, upon entering the building to the meeting Monday evening, signs warned that cars parked in Guidry’s lot would be towed.

Before the council began digging into official business, councilor Robert Popoff addressed the situation.

“Chief (Thom) Carr, I’m sorry to catch you off guard ... ,” he began.

Popoff continued saying he would have liked to park in the lot despite towing warnings and said he didn’t want to see the city “waste anymore resources” on the contentions with Guidry.

Carr said he was protecting the residents not only from being towed but also because a car was keyed in Guidry’s lot at a rental committee meeting last week and since it’s a private lot there is no video evidence of the incident.

“I can be just as petty as anyone in the whole world ... I’d like to have a free street light and my electric bill paid too. As far as I’m concerned we’ve bent over backwards to be a good neighbor,” said councilor Ted Forcht.

Councilors discussed removing the lights and cutting off the electricity and finally decided to let the situation be resolved between attorneys if Guidry continued to refuse a discussion.

Without a firm parking resolution, council moved on to formal business addressing the option of a fire assessment.

As Florida legislators are looking to cut property taxes, Marco Island City Council may be looking to add an assessment to the tax bills residents receive this fall.

The council gave approval for City staff to move forward with the actions necessary to allow for a fire assessment. Council voted 6-1 with Forcht casting the only dissenting vote.

The council will make a final decision on whether to levy a fire assessment during budget hearings this summer. A possible benefit of the assessment: property owners will have less disparity between the taxes they pay for fire service and the amount paid by their neighbors. Some residents are concerned however that the assessment will just make everyone’s property tax bills higher if they pay the same millage rate in addition to a new assessment.

This is not the first time a fire assessment has been discussed by City Council, however, it was the first time the three newest council members were able to give their direction on the idea. The previous council deferred the final decision for the new board.

“We’ve been working on this for about a year and a half. I think we need to continue to move forward,” said Popoff.

Currently fire service is paid for through property taxes. Fire Chief Mike Murphy presented the council with various fire assessment options including partial funding through assessment and partial funding through ad valorem so as to minimize drastic changes in tax bills.

A percentage, up to 91 percent, of the fire budget may be financed through an assessment. Murphy said 91 percent of the Marco Island Fire Department’s budget is spent directly on providing fire service. He said the other nine percent is primarily used toward EMS, which must be funded through ad valorem.

The assessment is meant to be more fair because the rate would be based upon usage by category — single family, multi-family and commercial — rather than based on the value of a home and whether it has been homesteaded.

Council will later decide what portion, if any, of the fire budget will be paid through an assessment and what will be financed through millage rates.

If the council chooses to assess 91 percent, all single family homes on the same street would pay nearly the same amount. Commercial properties would pay based upon the square footage of the structure.

There are some property owners paying as much as 10 times more than their neighbors in a comparable home due to whether the residence is homesteaded and when, Murphy said.

Government Services Group, Inc. conducted a study on Marco Island last year to determine the average usage of fire service by single family owners, commercial properties, multi-family properties and other categories.

“Just like any policy change, there are some winners and some losers. If you recently purchased a home or have a home that isn’t homesteaded, you will benefit the most,” Murphy said.

Commercial and condominium property owners may see their rates go up, Murphy said, adding that island residents are currently paying less on average than they were 10 years ago and considerably less than residents who “live over the bridge.” Off-island Collier County residents are charged higher ad valorem rates by their independent fire districts, he said.

Residents present for public comment voiced concerns about the ability of the city to charge everyone more if they did not reduce ad valorem taxes in conjunction with adding the assessment.

“You’ve heard from a master salesman,” said Fay Biles, president of the Marco Island Taxpayers Association after Murphy completed his report. She suggested calling it what it is: “a new tax.”

Biles says the funding cap which limits the amount the city can spend in a fiscal year would also need to stay in place.

Murphy assured those present at Monday night’s City Council meeting that the assessment would not affect the cap.

“Every time I hear ‘make it fair,’ I think, ‘grab my wallet,” said councilor Chuck Kiester.

Councilor Wayne Waldack said he wasn’t in favor of raising taxes, but questioned whether a significant reduction in ad valorem taxes would allow the city to continue to operate essential services.

“The State of Florida has been reducing ad valorem taxes ... these are the taxes that don’t affect the State of Florida’s budget one penny. They’re going with sales tax increases. I don’t think that’s fair,” Waldack said.

“I’m not necessarily saying we should have this ... My neighbors aren’t very happy with me right now ... But this is a way to level the field. Council can decide on this assessment and lower millage rates. Either way, Marco residents are still benefiting by paying less than the rest of Collier,” Murphy said in an interview after the presentation.

Councilor Jerry Gibson suggested the board leave itself open to as many options as possible as they go into budget workshops.

In other business, the council voted 6-1 for a full refund to residents who paid a $38 sewer connection permit fee and to discontinue charging residents the fee if they use the city’s contractor to connect to the sewer. Gibson cast the only dissenting vote.

The other councilors said they believed they needed to affirm the direction of the previous council by not charging residents the permit fee. The council was not sure how or where the resulting $174,000 loss in permit fees would be recovered.