[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by mtdjed

Let's all understand that what we got was not a bill or even technically a fee notice. We got a "Notice to Property Owners" supposedly required by Florida Statutes. It basically states that the county plan is to charge the Fire Protection Services equally to all county residences. What is wrong with that? They are even having a public hearing on August 22 for public comment. Note there is a Paragraph that states that exceeding this Notice cost "maximum " will require a notice

Costs are costs. The actual budget will be based upon costs of facilities, personnel, and services paid. If they took money from General fund before, and have now proposed separate fund, then we should expect a decrease in general fund.

Should be based upon total assets and services currently approved. If anything new is included, that should be identified.

They took money before and they are taking money now. This increase in the fee better represents the true cost of providing fire protection service but also makes it possible for the property tax rate to remain at the rollback rate (legally defined as no increase or decrease).

EDIT: I used 2023 numbers (current year) rather then 2024 numbers (upcoming year) which made the calculations very wrong. Below is a more accurate statement.

Had the fee not been increased then the $124 fee would still be far less than the true cost of service and the property tax rate would have increased by something like 20% to 25% (rough calculation based on the proposed budget).