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Golden Gate fire faces budget woes now with next year looking worse
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Local governments are facing a tough budget year and the Golden Gate Fire District is no exception.
“I hate to call it the perfect storm, but it is,” said Dave Anderson, Golden Gate assistant fire chief of administration, during the district’s budget workshop this week.
Last year’s state property tax cut, the economic downturn and falling property values have forced government leaders to make some difficult decisions.
The district’s fiscal 2009 preliminary budget totals $10.9 million, with $8.24 million expected to come from property taxes and $266,060 from impact fees.
However, the district is still $265,116 short of having a balanced budget.
At the July 9 meeting, Golden Gate Fire Chief Bob Metzger told fire commissioners that the district was $800,000 short of balancing the budget.
Anderson said that after some cuts and shifting $600,000 from the district’s fund balance, which covers the department’s expenses until it receives the first property tax check, the department is close to getting the budget balanced.
“This is the best data we can provide as of July 22,” he said, adding that several items are still being negotiated including the firefighters union contract.
Regardless, fire commissioners agreed that there are difficult times ahead for the district.
“It’s going to be a tough time to be a commissioner and a fire chief,” said Fire commissioner Dave Stedman.
And an even larger problem still looms ahead, said Metzger.
“The bigger issue is the 2009-10 budget,” he said.
If the current market and economic conditions do not improve, he said, the district will have to address some serious repercussions.
“We will certainly do whatever we have to do to get through it right now, but my fear is that we will see a reduction in services,” Metzger said.
According to the Collier County Property Appraisers Office the average market value for a single-family home within the Golden Gate Fire District is $334,000.
Meanwhile, the average taxable value for a single family home in the district is $224,000, which takes into consideration the state’s new $50,000 homestead exemption and the Save-Our-Homes 3 percent increase cap.
With the commission setting the Golden Gate district’s preliminary fiscal 2009 tax rate at $1 per $1,000 of taxable property value, the average district homeowner could expect to pay $224 for fire services. County, municipal and school taxes are set by separate entities.
The preliminary budget is down from the district’s $12 million fiscal 2008 budget, which had $8.4 million coming from tax revenue and $447,253 impact fees.
The Golden Gate Fire District has 73 employees, covers 103 square miles and serves roughly 80,000 residents.
For more information about the district, visit www.ggfire.com or call 348-7540.
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Consolidate all fire and EMS. All depts ar struggling. Make it one dept.
#1 Posted by Nplschick on July 25, 2008 at 6:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wish it was that easy. The consolidation has to go to a vote to the taxpayers. It will be expensive to get it all done initially, but in the end, everybody would be saving money. But because of the initial expense, I am pretty sure the consolidation will be voted down by the voters because most of them do not see the big picture. Imagine that.
#2 Posted by napleska7 on July 25, 2008 at 7:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Make sure they include a lawn mower for the new station on Collier Blvd. The landscape looks terrible.
#3 Posted by hadenuf on July 25, 2008 at 8:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is/should really push consolidation onto the front burner, it needs to happen for the districts to maintain levels of service...
btw, there's more tax amendments on the ballot this year, let's see if the voters and Crist can really run the municipalities into the ground.
#4 Posted by CaptSam on July 25, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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