SARASOTA, Fla. — The first of a series of community forums has kicked off in Sarasota County regarding the increase in fire assessments for properties.
Fire assessments are the primary funding mechanism for fire services in the unincorporated areas of Sarasota County, as well as the city of Sarasota.
According to leaders of the county's fire department and emergency management services, the added assessments would go towards public safety enhancements, including upgrading and renovating fire stations, improving or replacing equipment and adding more firefighters to the department.
County officials said the assessment is going up because of the current population growth in the county which is seeing more housing being added to the area. This growth they said has had an impact on fire and EMS services which now require a larger budget and access to funding.
"We've had an increase by about 4,000 calls from last year and that's all incidents, that's EMS and fire across the board," said Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun.
Rathbun also said there has been an increase in the costs of equipment and resources across the board, including a 37% jump in the price of firefighting gear from last year.
"That's the helmet, that's the bunker coats, the pants, gloves, the boots that allow firefighters to go into the burning structure to rescue occupants," said Rathbun.
County officials said it is because of these reasons that they have proposed the increase in the annual fire assessment on properties for the 2024 fiscal year. If approved and voted on by the Sarasota County Board of Commissioners, property owners should expect to see a 15% increase on their TRIM notice.
Broken down monthly, the new assessments come out to $2.81 for a 2500-square-foot single-family home, $3.89 for a 1600-square-foot multi-residential unit and $21.17 for a 10,000-square-foot non-residential structure.
"Truly, the cost for fire protection is annually analyzed to make sure that what we're asking for is appropriate for the level of service that the board approves. It is also approved through our county administrator and that we are providing the highest level of service that we can," said Rich Collins, county director of emergency management services. "When someone picks up and dials 911, whether it's fire, EMS or law enforcement, we work very carefully to make sure we can provide the best level service in the most cost-effective way for our citizens."
The second meeting is set to be held on Wednesday, Sept. 6 at Gulf Gate Library in Sarasota and the last one is on Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Selby Public Library – also in Sarasota. Both meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and are scheduled to last an hour.
County commissioners will vote on the fire assessment increase on Monday, Sept. 11.
