Lakeland paying for public services

A letter to the Commercial Appeal today gave a completely false impression of Lakeland. Whether you read the letter or not, for the record:

-The Shelby County Fire Department is supported 100% by USER FEES, not property taxes. Lakeland residents pay the same as County residents ($24.00 per month) and Lakeland ALSO built the Fire Station staffed by the County at no charge to the County or County residents.

This provides a County Fire Station and also helps Lakeland by providing for the Shelby County Fire Department to continue operations.

-The City of Lakland pays THE SAME PERCENTAGE of actual costs as other suburbs pay(Germantown, Collierville, Arlington, Millington and the County residents) for Metro Ambulance calls. The percentage is based on the percentage of ambulance calls in Lakeland.

-The City of Lakeland does have a business use tax for businesses.

Also, consider that most Lakeland residents actually subsidize Memphis by our sales taxes from shopping in Memphis and I expect Lakeland residents subsidize Memphis!