There is an ongoing debate over who should pay for fire services and at what cost amid rising fire service fee rates.
The City of Tallahassee is proposing a 22% fire fee hike to help pay for things like new firefighter salaries and a new station. But the City of Tallahassee and Leon County are in a formal conflict resolution process to negotiate how much neighbors living in unincorporated areas will pay. Watch the video to hear a new proposal from County Commissioner Christian Caban. Who he says should foot the bill.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I do not believe that our taxpayers in the unincorporated Leon County should have to have an increase in their fire services fee point blank,” said Leon County Commissioner Christian Caban.
Commissioner Caban is calling for more public oversight when it comes to raising fire service fees.
He’s proposing Blueprint take on most of the costs.
That way, voters get a say on major construction projects like fire stations moving forward.
Why are we asking taxpayers for more money when we have an infrastructure sales tax already available that we could go build these fire stations for, right? he said.
The City of Tallahassee is expecting to raise the fee about 22%, an extra $4.86 on average for people living in city limits.
But now, the City and County are in a formal conflict resolution to determine what rate unincorporated neighbors will pay.
The increase would cover operational costs, new firefighter salaries, station construction and a boost in its ISO rating.
We realized the fees in place today that are paid by city and county residents wouldn’t be adequate to meet the needs of the fire department, Reese Goad, the city manager, said.
But City Manager Reese Goad says funding the fire stations through Blueprint would be difficult.
“All of the projects have been accounted for, voted on by the public in 2014. And so that makes it difficult to add new things to the list of projects, Goad said.
Neighbors like David West want entirely different option, telling me the fee should be eliminated and included in property taxes instead.
I support the work that our fire department does. They do wonderful things. They have saved the lives of my family members. I support their work. However, I do not support the manner in which they are being funded, West said.
City commissioners are expected to vote in September on that 22% fee increase for residents within city limits.
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