[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

But yet they would not comment or codify that TV residents would not be paying for SCFD. To me that meant they were leaving all options open.

Prior to my election to the board the decision was made not to get involved but to let the District government sell it. When certain organizations/individuals started propagating false information (intentionally?) I made the recommendation at a county workshop that the county should put out a statement to counter the false information and that by being silent would be taken as validating the misinformation. My recommendation was quickly shot down and it was restated that the board had taken the position to not get involved.

To me, it appeared that there were additional agendas at play in the process.

While the budget process is a very complex one with many moving parts and multiple laws and regulations affecting it there were a few simple factors that could have been addressed. Move the FD cost out of the budget, costs go down and the required millage to support it goes down. Both FDs would have had to have separate funding vehicles and residents/businesses would have paid into or or the other but not both.

But this is all now ancient history and we have to deal with the here and now. The are several important items in the agendas for upcoming BOCC meeting that address the funding for FDs for the upcoming year. As this is pending action by the board I can’t and won’t comment further on these for fear of violating Florida’s open meetings law (sunshine law).

As for FY25’s budget and fire department funding options, the are several on the table that need to be reviewed. Each has its own pluses and minuses to be considered. All of these have to be evaluated very quickly to ensure adequate time to take whatever action will be required to implement whatever option is decided on. Here again, for the same reason, I’ll not make further comment.