FARMERS and small country communities will pay $24.5 million towards the Emergency Services Levy but receive just $16.1m back, and the backlash from disgruntled regional residents is growing.
Estimates show $188m will be collected from metropolitan areas, but they will receive $196.1m in direct funding.
The perception of an inequitable distribution of the levy, along with another increase this year to raise a further $19.8m, has angered Eyre Peninsula farmers who believe they are subsidising services in the city.
At a community meeting at Yeelanna on the EP earlier this month, about 30 locals agreed to pay 10/23rds of their ESL bills.
The calculation was based on figures from last financial year estimating rural communities would pay $22.9m towards the levy but emergency services in these areas would only receive $9.4m in direct funding.
With five EP CFS brigades declaring they would not fight fires on government land, the CFS Volunteers Association held a meeting at Cummins on Monday night to listen to volunteers' concerns.
Greenpatch brigade captain and farmer Mark Modra said about 40 people attended and the meeting highlighted how many people have had large increases in their bills.
"The association asked how many people had rises of more than 1000 per cent and the majority of hands went up," he said.
"One farmer has a bill of $3300 this year, and when the average is $150 that is a huge difference – it is the inequity of this that we have a problem with.
"But this is a bigger issue than the CFS – it is across the community, which is where Yeelanna's decision to not pay their bills in full comes into it."
Mr Modra said the bottom line was that metropolitan areas were getting back more than they contributed.
"I cannot understand why the ESL is connected to what land is worth," he said.
"It is not fair to assume people with land can pay more, we can't lift the prices on our grain, for example, in order to cover the increase."
