Thanks but no thanks.
That appears to be the answer coming from the city of Fayetteville to an offer from the University of Arkansas to help with some of the costs for fire service in the city.
The Town & Gown Advisory Committee recently turned down a university offer to pay for a new fire engine or ladder truck or to consider leasing land for a new fire station.
Any final agreement would have to go through the City Council and the UA Board of Trustees, but this committee of representatives from both entities is involved in the negotiation.
"We just don't feel like this is enough," said Don Marr, chief of staff to Mayor Lioneld Jordan. He noted that, while the UA spends more than $3 million a year for its own police department, it pays nothing for fire protection.
The city wants more help, although it appears to have accepted the idea that the university won't place a special fee for fire service on university students.
"We've heard loud and clear: No student fee works," Marr told the Town & Gown Advisory Committee. But he held out hope that the mayor and new Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz will explore other options.
The city had asked for a fee of $3.50 per credit hour from students, which would have generated $1.4 million annually for the city and an equal amount for the university.
That continuous flow of money would solve major funding problems for the Fayetteville Fire Department, which is strained by the city's growing population, including higher enrollment at the UA.
The department says its citywide call volume has increased dramatically and response times are slower than desired. The city is looking for funds enough to build a fire station and add firefighters, not just for land and a piece of equipment.
Fire Chief David Dayringer notes a population growth of about 6,000 in Fayetteville from 2010 to 2014, a period in which the UA enrollment increased by 5,000.
While only a few hundred of the estimated 10,000 calls the department made last year were to the campus itself, the chief estimates maybe 10 percent of the total calls come from students and university employees off campus.
It is a significant challenge and the university has extended some help, just not what the city wants.
Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities at the UA and a member of the committee, last year suggested the alternatives of the university's buying a vehicle or leasing land for a fire station.
He did so as the university flatly rejected the proposal from the city that students be assessed a $3.50 per-credit-hour fee for fire protection.
All of that happened before Steinmetz became the UA's new chancellor. He officially assumed those duties on Jan. 1, although his selection was announced in October and he was likely aware of the position the UA had previously taken.
Also, Matt Trantham, UA's senior associate athletic director and another member of the committee, cautioned this month that the panel shouldn't count on a hypothetical offer.
"This is all there is right now," Trantham said, referring to the existing offer from the university, which would amount to between $600,000 and $1.6 million, depending on the type of vehicle bought.
That's far less than an annual fee on students would generate. But the fee is a wrong-headed idea.
There is no justification for assessing a fee exclusively on students to pay for fire protection. Other segments of Fayetteville's general population, including those university employees who are also residents, aren't being asked to pay special fees. And students shouldn't be either.
Yes, they make up a significant part of Fayetteville's population, but they shouldn't pay more for fire protection than other residents just because there is a way to get extra money from them.
Like the rest of us, students pay sales taxes and property taxes (directly or indirectly) and more. But, unlike the rest of us, they are easy targets for special fees tagged onto their tuition.
Maybe the new chancellor will see some merit in increasing the university's offer to help Fayetteville meet the demands of fire service on campus and off campus.
But he should not revisit the idea of an unfair fee on the student population.
Commentary on 01/24/2016