Ready your pocketbooks: Tallahassee’s fire service fees will see an increase this fall.
During the June 11 budget workshop, the Tallahassee City Commission unanimously supported the proposed 20% to 25% increase, which will go into effect this September. Commissioners across the board said they recognized the need for the additional funds and “the time is now.”
The average city residential customer will see an increase of $4.86 per month, which will go toward the hiring of 26 new firefighters, the creation of a new fire station, expansion of an existing fire station and other operational costs incurred by the Tallahassee Fire Department.
“I’m very proud to see the city commission come to a unanimous, 5-0 vote in support of the fire department on this issue,” Mayor John Dailey said.
“It would be very hypocritical of us to say that we support the fire department, and we support the contract, but not to support increasing the fire services fee to fulfill what we’ve all worked so hard on for the past two years to get that contract.”
Fire Chief Gene Sanders told commissioners that the community is growing, so responsibility is growing. Standard response to a single-family development property should have a minimum of 16 firefighters, but with current staffing levels, TFD has to dispatch more units to meet that standard, he said.
The fee hike will lead to more firefighters, which will ultimately increase public safety. “Acting now ensures we’re doing everything possible to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of our employees and folks,” Sanders said.
“I’m on board 100%,” City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said.
Sanders noted that if action wasn’t taken during the meeting, the window for change was quickly closing with the next opportunity being in 2032; an audit is coming in 2027. And Williams-Cox said a lot could happen over the course of those seven years: “We don’t need to delay this.”
City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said increasing TFD staff numbers and fire stations are good goals, and while he was in support of increasing the fee, he said he wants the city to consider the long-term impacts to the fire fund, such as competitive pay for firefighters.
He also said he wanted the city to discuss drawing funds from the general fund to help pay for TFD as a way to spare customers from future rate increases.
“I think continuing to increase the burden on utility bills going forward could be negative,” Matlow said.
Williams-Cox pointed to the Legislature’s consideration of an elimination of property taxes, which is the biggest pot of money for the city’s general fund. “I don’t think we want to add anymore to [the general fund] because if that goes away, that’s just more we have to figure out where it comes from,” she said.
Part of the need for a fee increase, Sanders said, is to improve Tallahassee and Leon County’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings. The ratings help determine property insurance rates, and the better the ISO rating, the lower the insurance premiums for homeowners.
He assured City Commissioner Jack Porter that the fee increase would help get the capital city and county to the next ISO rating. “I agree, generally speaking, with what’s been said, and I support moving forward,” Porter said.
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson said he’s happy to hear that TFD is recruiting, and the city needs to keep investing in this sector of public safety. He said he’s “befuddled” as to why Leon County Commissioners didn’t see the need for improving TFD’s ISO rating.
At the end of May, county commissioners discussed the city’s plans to up the fire service fee for customers, and disapproved. Commissioners said this rate increase was sprung on them at the last minute, and because customer rates went up just last year, they were hesitant to agree to this one.
The county commission created what they labeled as a compromise to the city’s proposal, which the city commission discussed during the vote. The county’s counter offer excluded all positions, equipment and programmatic costs needed to improve Tallahassee’s ISO rating, according to city agenda materials.
City staff also said the county’s offer only reduced the proposed increase by 99 cents. “That’s a no brainer, if you ask me,” Richardson said.
Dailey now has to write a letter on behalf of the city commission, stating that the commission didn’t accept the county’s terms, which will launch a “conflict resolution process” between the two local governments. “I look forward to it,” Dailey said.
In other business
As the commission approved the fire service fee increase, the city commission also voted and approved to accept the third quarter update for Fiscal Year 2025, the proposed millage rate of 4.42 mills in FY 2026 and the two upcoming public hearing dates ahead of the finalization of the FY 2026 budget of $1.2 billion.
Public hearings to discuss the FY 26 budget will be held Sept. 3 and 17.
Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee City Commission backs 25% fire fee hike to boost public safety
Reporting by Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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