04:15 PM EDT on Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Fingers are pointing and lawyers are investigating -- the St. Matthews Fire Department has uncovered millions of dollars in unpaid fire taxes.

Some of the best-known businesses in town were never billed, and some of the agencies that bill for and collect those taxes say the fire department itself may be to blame.

One question lingers in our top story tonight...just who will pay?

The St. Matthews firefighters are off and running, and some of their fire calls may take them to some of the best known retail names in Louisville: the Mall St. Matthews, Shelbyville Road Plaza.

And just how much have the stores along this busy U.S. 60 corridor paid in fire taxes over the past 20 years?

“I don't think they were ever billed or aware that they even owed taxes,” says Chief Bill Seng.

Millions of dollars worth of unpaid fire taxes, specifically the tangible property tax on businesses -- that is, their inventory, furniture and fixtures. How much has the sheriff's department collected from these businesses?

“Zero,” says Jim O’Daniel.

The St. Matthews Fire Department says it discovered to its utter shock last week that for 20 years, more than 1,100 businesses in St. Matthews haven't paid any fire taxes, to the tune of $157,000 a year -- or $2 million over the past 20 years.

“We've been running things on a tight budget for the last three, four years,” Seng says. “This is money that would help out buy equipment.”

So what happened?

“We did not know to bill.”

The Jefferson County sheriff's office says it was never told by the St. Matthews Fire Department -- and this goes back 20 years -- to bill for the tangible property fire tax.

In the end, it rounds out to about $136 per business a year, but it’s money the St. Matthews Fire Department now wishes it had to invest.

“There hasn't been any extras,” Seng says. “We've really slimmed down.”

Lawyers for the fire department say they blame the agencies who are required by law to collect taxes. We want to make it clear, the 1,100 businesses in question in St. Matthews were billed for their other taxes -- schools, city and state -- and have paid everything.

After the sheriff's department was told last week that it should be billing for the fire tax, it did so, and for the very first time, the businesses in St. Matthews will see a new line item on their tax bill for this year: the fire tax.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.