County Budget, Firefighters, am I missing something
 

Saw in local online news site - the county austerity measures. In a time where the cost of food is up 19%, we are not giving our firefighters a raise, we are reducing training and reducing staffing on trucks?

And before anyone complains that a 8.7 COLA increase is too much, what was last year’s social security COLA increase? 8.7%, I think.

I don’t recall anything handled as poorly as this AMR ambulance transition.


“To save jobs, Hanson said firefighters have agreed to forego an 8.7 percent cost-of-living increase for county employees as well as some training stipends.

The fire chief also said he will reduce staffing to two or three firefighters per vehicle, down from three or four.”

From what I can tell, many Sumter County homeowners were concerned that the proposed fire assessment fee would have risen from $124 per year to about $323. Also, it looks like Sumter County is planning to create a dependent fire district for the Villages Public Safety Department (VPSD). A dependent district would offer the VPSD greater control over its finances while remaining under county authority. The rest of Sumter County is served by a separate Sumter County Fire Department.

Our own fault
 

We all balked when it was finally revealed what it would actually cost to get the fire and ambulance services we asked for. Home owners didn’t like the 100% increase in our fire fee and business were up in arms about the huge increases proposed for basing their fee upon their size.

So we are back to paying for our fire & ambulance under the old system of a set fee per property and money from our ad volarem taxes. And there isn’t enough to pay for all we wanted.

Welcome to the real world of The Villages where there is a cost associated with all that we enjoy and maintaining these services is only going to keep getting more and more expensive.

We have a choice. We can pay for it, or not.

Maybe the next time the independent fire district is on the ballot, people will learn the facts rather than succumb to anti-developer hype.

The Villagers demanded improved ambulance response which required increased staffing. They got what they asked for.

The Villagers argued against an independent district with a stable funding stream. They got what they asked for.

Many in Sumter County (Villagers included) argued against increasing the fire protection fee to fund the fire departments. They got what they asked for.

But that puts us where we are today: the fire departments have to figure out how to do more with less.

Going without a pay raise will hurt. Seeing your co-workers let go because of funding cuts would hurt too. Lesser of two evils I guess.

But you forgot one key ingredient: Many did not understand or bother to find out what "they" were asking (and voting) for.

So at this point, who would be ok with a $0.50 a day tax increase to support our firefighters while this is getting sorted out?

(Probably gross over simplification...)

So people are bucking over $16.00/Month ($0.50/day) to have top quality Fire and EMS services. But we'll quickly run down to a country club order appetizers and a couple beers (around $16.00) to discuss it. Penny wise, pound foolish.

I think the pandemic made AMR look worst than they really were. So folks had a knee jerk reaction not keeping in mind we were in the middle of a pandemic hence the slower response times.

After the pandemic calmed down response times got better but of course this whole VSPD vote was already on the table.

Now you lost AMR all together and will have slower response times with less staff.

Great job by the neurotic super paranoid we have to do something immediately crowd.

Not privy to all the details but from what I have read there seems to be acres of room for negotiations. Appears both sides have dug in their heels and said you need to choose this or that.

To put things in perspective, I have seen articles that refute the severity of the above as follows.
"All these adjustments have been made to save the jobs," Hanson said.
The fire chief said they will not make staff cuts, but they will have to cut current job openings and future growth, as well as reduce operations including in rural areas and The Villages.
"Some of those services may take a little bit more time to get too, or maybe less people go to those types of calls," Hanson said.

I have not seen the agreement that Firefighters have given up a raise of 8.7%. However, I can confirm that their two-year agreement with the county does have an article 45.1 which states that there would be a COLA based upon 2023 Indices.

Reference to the 8.7% Social Security raise that most of us got for CY 2023 is correct, but do not plan on that for 2024. Rate not established yet, but some estimates say 3.2% and that is only against a much smaller base equaling ~ $750/year.

Think of all the retired folks living on a pension and SS. Some have not seen any increase in 20 years.

Labor contracts are something that every party has interests in. In this case, taxpayers, County Commissioners and Firefighters. Sometimes everyone must be apart of the solution. Note the attached agreement. Firefighters are not limited to COLA. There are promotions and incentives also available.


https://www.sumtercountyfl.gov/Agend...8?fileID=51421

True, but business here should be paying a lot more than they are currently paying for fire protection. All I have ever heard was that a huge percentage fee was proposed but never saw a dollar amount attached to that.

Expect a $ 200 yearly increase for fire and ambulance and am ok with it but all parties covered should be paying for it.

You would have to look at the tax bill to see what the increase was for a business. Some would have been small(ish) and others not so small.

A $500 fire fee for everyone would have come close to collecting the same money. However, with all the citizens that complained about a $200 increase, is there any reason to believe a $375 increase will be palatable?

I thought the incremental increase was more like $124?

But in any case, the ambulance service near me is vastly improved since the change and well worth an extra dollar day.

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