2 days ago
Kissimmee to assess fee on property owners to add firefighters, shorten their workweeks
Property owners in Kissimmee will soon start paying a special fee to help their fire department recruit additional firefighters and allow them to work less-rigorous schedules.
After a public hearing Tuesday evening that lasted more than an hour, commissioners voted 4-1 to assess all property owners $105 per parcel of land plus 56 cents per $1,000 of improvements made.
'I can't compromise public safety to save a dollar,' Commissioner Angela Eady said. 'I can't do that to someone that's willing to risk their lives to save a life.'
Commissioner Carlos Alvarez cast the sole dissenting vote, saying it would 'be a burden to homeowners.'
The assessment will raise the approximately $6 million needed annually to fund 49 new positions (firefighters and support staff) in the Fire Department. The funds will be part of the department's budget for the fiscal year starting in October.
Fire Chief Jim Walls said Monday in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel that the funds will allow hiring roughly 39 firefighters — an entire second shift — and double the total number in the department. Expanding the ranks of firefighters will allow them to work a 42-hour workweek instead of the current 56 — making it the first department in Central Florida to adopt that schedule.
Walls said adding personnel is not about improving response times — the rapidly growing city of just over 70,000 has already worked to add new fire stations on the growing east side — but about recruiting firefighters.
'We've had a hard time hiring and Kissimmee isn't any different from the rest of the state,' he said. 'So this will help us with recruitment, retention, morale, mental and physical health.'
Roughly a dozen residents spoke during the meeting — with most opposing the fee — but three city firefighters said their mental health and the quality of service they provide would deteriorate if they keep working 56 hours a week.
Joshua Clark, a KPD firefighter and president of its union, said the city is growing quickly and so are the department's calls.
'Every year the population rises, the buildings go higher, the calls get more complex and we meet these challenges head on time and time again,' Clark said. 'But to keep doing that to stay ahead of the curve we need the proper tools and resources. The fire fee gives us exactly that.'
But Ana Mendez, a mother of two and first-time homeowner, told commissioners she opposes the assessment because it would cause her financial hardship. Mendez said she understands firefighters protect the community but asked if taxes she currently pays could support the department's effort.
'I'm a survivor of domestic violence and left that situation to go to a shelter,' she told them in Spanish with Mayor Jackie Espinosa translating. 'To finally have a house is a big achievement for me, it's not fully paid for because I just got it, but the implication to have this fee as an additional expense will not be easy for me.
'For me this won't be easy and I'm sure that it won't be for other women who are in my same situation.'
The assessment comes as a bill in the Legislature, House Bill 929, encourages a 42-hour workweek, Walls said. The legislation, in combination with Kissimmee's decision to adopt it, will likely push other cities and counties to implement the shorter workweek.
'It's just a matter of when people do make that switch,' he said. 'Now it only encourages, so it's not mandated … and so that to me it usually starts as encouraging but at some point down the road it usually will lead to having to do it.'
