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Voters approved a tax hike for the Greater Naples Fire District.
The independent district sought the hike through a referendum. It asked for a tax increase of up to 0.5 mills to pay for capital costs, which could generate more than $16 million a year.
The measure passed Tuesday, with 56.2% of the total votes cast in favor of it.
The question only appeared on the ballots of voters living within the district’s boundaries, which stretch 758 square miles, including on state and federally owned lands.
There were 13,906 votes for the referendum, and 10,817 against it.
The fire district primarily relies on property taxes to do its job. At the current tax rate, it has struggled to keep up with operating, equipment and maintenance costs – and population growth.
While the district’s demands, costs and needs continue to mount, the millage rate it charges hasn’t changed since its creation by the merger of the East Naples and Golden Gate fire districts nearly a decade ago.
Since that merger, Greater Naples Fire’s service boundaries have expanded to include the Isles of Capri and Ochopee. Although that has widened its tax base, the revenues have fallen far short of the needs, even as taxable values continued to rise, Chris Wolfe, the interim fire chief, said ahead of the vote.
The district’s current tax rate is 1.5 mills. That equates to $1.50 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
The tax increase, which takes effect in 2025-26, will be in effect for eight years, with the district deciding whether to collect the maximum amount of 2 mills annually, based on its budgetary needs.
At most, the extra cost for an owner with a taxable home value of $400,000 would be $200 a year, or less than $17 a month.
At the current millage rate, property taxes generated about $50 million this fiscal year.
“There is not any room in the budget to attack current replacement needs or look to future needs on the capital side,” Wolfe said.
In case you missed it: Greater Naples Fire District seeks tax hike through referendum. Here’s why.
Any funds raised by the additional tax will be held in a separate account for capital improvements only.
The district operates much like a small county, or city, with its own departments, from human resources and technology to facilities and fleet management. Costs have increased across the board, for everything from health care benefits to office supplies.
The district serves a year-round population of about 180,000 and based on that population it’s short at least 60 firefighters, which it didn’t have the money to hire without a tax increase, Wolfe said.
The tax increase will free up more money for operations, including more firefighters.
There hasn’t been enough money to purchase new equipment and vehicles, to maintain and repair all of the fire stations, or to build new ones, with nearly 80% of the budget going toward personnel, Wolfe said.
Of the four fire districts in Collier County, Greater Naples has the second lowest property tax rate. North Collier is at 1 mill, with Big Corkscrew and Immokalee both at 3.75 mills (the maximum allowed under state law).
A political action committee, or PAC, going under the name Collier County Citizens Values, opposed the increase, saying the district had a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Other opponents included East Naples Civic & Commerce, a community organization that represents local residents and businesses in part of the district’s jurisdiction.
Todd Eschmann, an East Naples resident, was one of the more vocal supporters of the tax increase, seeing it as not only important, but critical.
He pointed to an October 2023 performance report showing the district’s average response time for fire-related calls (including alarms), was 11 minutes, 23 seconds, more than twice the national standard.
The outside audit showed a similar situation in the response to emergency medical-related calls.
“That is a huge concern for people who live out here,” Eschmann said.
Greater Naples Fire is the largest fire district in Florida. According to its latest annual report, fire service professionals responded to more than 30,000 emergency incidents and conducted nearly 10,200 life safety inspections in 2023, seeing a 1.65% increase in calls over the year.
