[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

The fire department issue.

I think it started with the vote last November. I have read many comments on the board and I have spoken to many of my neighbors. No one seems to understand the impact of passing the referendum last year or the impact of not passing it.

I don't believe anyone has explained why the fire fighting costs are going up so dramatically. The Sumter County Fire Chief claims that failure to pass the $200 increase will cause a $12 million shortfall in his $24 million budget and that he will have to lay off 30 fireman. Was there no shortfall last year? What was the budget last year? The Villages Public Safety Department will lose 57 new positions and will have to disband the hazardous materials team and his budget will be cut from $34.5 million to $20 million.

- The SCFEMS budget for last year was about $19M and this year they asked for $28M.
- The new assessment and structure would bring in $35M but now, changing it back to the old amount and old structure, it will only bring in about $10M
- The $25M difference will likely be split evenly between the two departments, $12.5M each.
- Taking $12.5M from the SCFEMS budget will leave $15.5M which is about $3.5M LESS than last year.
- Announcing layoffs may only be an attempt to frighten the citizens but with expenses going up and income going down by $3.5M, the SCFEMS has to do something.

The VPSD will lose the same $12.5M but because their budget had a larger increase this year, even losing that amount they will have a little more than last year. Perhaps their proposed increase was to cover the hiring of additional staff which will not happen now.

It was the SCFEMS chief who mentioned the HazMat team.

If the referendum had passed last November, would the budgets have then been balanced without the $200 increase? If so, where would the money have come from?

If the IFD referendum has passed we would not have received notice about the $323.64 and the VPSD would not be involved with this. The IFD referendum locked in our fee at $124 and funded the VPSD out of the IFD. The VPSD would not have been part of the BoCC budget at all.

Now, SCFEMS would have been greatly affected but that's a larger discussion with more math.

The latest census figures for Sumter County show a population of about 135,000.

Did anyone on the board work as a fireman or on their city's budget committee? What is the average cost of a fire department in a town of 135,000?

That I do not know.