Foes of fire fee turn out, but North Collier board OKs it for August ballot

North Collier Fire and Rescue District commissioners voted 5-0 on Thursday to put a controversial fire fee on the Aug. 28 ballot.

More than 100 people, most of them seniors who live in Bentley Village and oppose the referendum, turned out for the vote.

Almost a dozen district residents spoke about the fee, with nearly all of them against it. 

One opponent, Steve Demidovich, criticized the district for what he sees as "runaway spending," including expenditures on what he described as "fringe benefits," namely pensions and health care, for retired firefighters.

"The district needs to go on a spending diet," he said. "In the meantime, I will surely vote no in August." 

The discussion went on for hours, and so many people turned out for the vote that the district opened a second room where people could view the meeting on a large screen at Station 45, near Veterans Community Park.

In the end, commissioners decided to let voters determine whether the district should be authorized to assess the fee, which would increase its funding by about $3.5 million annually.

"It gives the district an option," said district board Chairman Chris Lombardo. "That's the way it's structured." 

If voters approve the fee, the district still would have the option not to assess it; and the board could revisit whether to levy the assessment every year as it considers its budget needs.

The district has 10 fire stations and serves a year-round population of more than 110,000 over 264 square miles. It's responsible for two service areas: North Naples and Big Corkscrew Island.

The current budget is more than $30 million.

The fire fee has been proposed to create a more sustainable funding method, which fire district officials say is needed to keep up with growth, cover replacement and maintenance costs and provide adequate reserves.The fire district would continue to assess and collect property taxes to support its operations.

Bentley Village opposes big increase

Bentley Village residents, who arrived by charter bus, argued the referendum should "go away," saying the fee is unnecessary and unfair. 

"We support the residents in this cause," said Penny Smith, the community's executive director. 

Bentley Village now pays about $86,000 a year to the fire district. But with the proposed tax plan, that could skyrocket to $675,000 if the entire community is assessed as an institution, as initially expected.

After commissioners agreed to move ahead with the referendum, they took a separate vote to address concerns in Bentley Village. Commissioners said it was the board's intent to reclassify about 550 residences in the community to reduce the owners' costs if the tax is levied. The board's Bentley Village vote was unanimous but not binding.

"There is a significant impact on Bentley Village that we did not anticipate or intend," Lombardo said.

The idea to reclassify parts of Bentley Village came after a meeting Wednesday between fire district officials and the community's staff and residents, said Sal D'Angelo, the district's executive director. The proposed reclassification could reduce the community's costs by $370,000 or more because the independent-living residences would be treated like any other single-family home, he said.

Under the proposed compromise, assisted-living and skilled nursing in the upscale, gated community off U.S. 41 North still would be considered institutional.

 More:North Collier Fire proposal would raise fees for many businesses

If the district levies the fire fee, there would be a formal process for residents and businesses to dispute how their properties are classified and assessed, in the same way that owners can fight the valuations used to determine their property tax bills.

How the fee would work

As proposed, owners of residential property would pay a flat rate of $254 per dwelling and owners of vacant land would pay $90 per parcel — while other property owners would be charged a fee based on square footage and uses.

Commercial property would pay 25 cents per square foot, while owners of industrial and warehouse properties would pay 4 cents per square foot. The larger the property, the higher the fee, which also has rubbed some area business owners and executives the wrong way.

Fire commissioners have discussed lowering the current tax rates charged on property to .5 mill in its service areas if the fire fee is approved. A half mill is equal to 50 cents per $1,000 in taxable value.

In the North Naples service area, the tax is now at 1 mill. In Big Corkscrew, it's at 3.5, a rate set before the two districts merged in 2015 to create the larger North Collier district.

Lowering the millage rate is not included in the language for the ballot question, so the decision would be left to the board in the future.

More:North Collier fire district board to vote on fire fee referendum

Most of crowd opposed fee

In a sea of opposition, Shirley Cothran, who lives in Waterways of Naples, was one of the few supporters of the referendum. She asked the board to send the question to voters, saying it's unfair for homeowners to be providing more than 80 percent of the revenue for the district when they're using 66 percent of the services.

"Who is using those other services?" she asked. "They should be paying for it." 

The proposed fee has drawn some vocal opponents, such as Janet Vasey, a local government watchdog — who also lives in Bentley Village. Her arguments against the assessment are many, including that it's a regressive tax that penalizes seniors and the working class.

She was disappointed with the board's decision to move ahead with the referendum, but she said she expected it.

"These were the same commissioners who said we would not be increasing taxes — that we would not be subsidizing Big Corkscrew in the North Naples area, and all of those promises have been not met," she sad. 

Vasey told the board the proposed fire fee upset her so much that she planned to run for fire commissioner in the district. That brought applause from other opponents in the crowd. Vasey filed to run for a seat on the fire board Thursday.

"This is just over the top," she said. "I believe this board is out of control; and several people are running against each one of the incumbents, and I think that shows that there is dissatisfaction."  

'It's not broken'

Doug Fee, a North Naples resident and activist, told the board he could see a 100 percent increase in the cost for his fire protection services from about $250 to almost $500, without a guarantee that there will be a change in the property tax rate the district charges him. 

His home is valued at about $300,000, with a $25,000 homestead exemption on it.

He said there are many other "average guys" who could see the same kind of increases.

Describing the fire district as a "great outfit," Fee said nothing really needs to change.

"Why are we breaking something?" he asked. "It's not broken."