North Collier Fire proposes new assessment fee

Mother nature costs Collier County thousands of dollars every year.

From brush fires to hurricanes, keeping up with natural disasters is a big expense for local fire departments.

That’s one reason why North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District says they need a new fee to offset costs.

“It provides a uniform funding mechanism for future planning and long term growth of the district,” said Sal D’Angelo of North Collier Fire Rescue.

The assessment fee would cost each household in the fire district about $254 per year. Businesses would pay $0.90 per square-foot.

“They have plenty of money right now,” said No Blank Check member Janet Vasey.

A new political action committee called No Blank Check raised $25,000 to put out literature about this fee, saying the fire district needs to go on a spending diet, and it’s not fair that taxpayers and business owners have to open their wallets.

“They have sufficient funds right now their people are overpaid with pay and benefits,” Vasey said.

The fire district said people need to take growth into consideration: with more people moving into the county, they said they need money to build new stations and replace old equipment to improve response times.

Fire officials added they need to put money in their reserve, but one big response has the potential to clear it out.

Another concern of the PAC is the potential to charge exempt entities like churches and schools the feel.

The fire district said it’s moot point, because the fee needs to be passed first, and commissioners would have to vote on a new policy to do that.