West Manatee Fire Rescue commissioners didn’t get quite what they bargained for when Attorney Jim Dye appeared before them to discuss the district’s practice of offering exemptions to assessments for some property owners. While the district has historically offered assessment exemptions to all people and organizations allowed tax exemptions, Dye said an opinion from the Florida Attorney General to the North River Fire District on the matter says the fire districts don’t have the right to grant exemptions. Dye said his interpretation of the opinion given by the Attorney General is that the only exemptions to assessments allowed are those for government-owned properties used for government purposes that are not leased.