By Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Fort Lauderdale is moving forward with plans to set up an EMS taxing district that could generate close to $55 million a year to help pay the salaries of the city’s firefighter/paramedics.
Homeowners and commercial property owners would see the Emergency Medical Services tax on their property tax bill along with a fire fee already levied by the city.
The EMS tax would come to nearly $500 for a home with a taxable value of $590,000. The higher the value of the property, the higher the tax.
Commissioners are expected to vote next month on a plan that would pave the way for the taxing district.
Bob Casullo , a resident who lives in a condo on the barrier island, was alarmed by the news.
“The end result is you’re paying out more taxes,” Casullo told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “They’re trying to get blood out of a stone. I don’t think this is going to go over well at all with the residents. It’s a burden most taxpayers don’t need and can’t afford.”
During a goal-setting meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner John Herbst argued the tax would help pay for the city’s growing contingent of firefighters needed to protect a growing city.
Mayor Dean Trantalis and Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman said they were worried about burdening property owners with yet another tax to pay in the current economic climate.
“This is a large financial burden,” Beasley-Pittman said. “This would be a very hard impact on many of our neighbors. Is this the right timing for this?”
Currently, residential property owners in Fort Lauderdale pay an annual fire assessment fee of $328. That fee, which helps pay for firefighting duties, brings in $51.5 million a year.
At full-cost recovery, the new EMS tax would bring in another $53 million in the first year. Together, the fire fee and EMS tax would bring in a grand total of $104.5 million.
Under current estimates, the EMS tax would come to $456.78 for a home with a taxable value of $590,000.
The new tax could show up on property tax bills as soon as 2026.
Both the fire fee and the new EMS tax would help fund the salaries of the city’s firefighter/paramedics, Fire Chief Stephen Gollan told the Sun Sentinel.
“The firefighter salary is divided between the fire fee and the EMS tax,” Gollan said. “The fire fee pays for firefighting duties. Our firefighters are paramedics too. The EMS tax pays for emergency medical care.”
As fire chief, Gollan oversees a budget of more than $122 million and a staff of 523 full-time employees, including more than 450 firefighters. Their salaries and benefits alone cost $95 million.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Herbst made his case for moving forward with the new tax.
“We’re looking at three men on a truck,” Herbst said. “We’ve got to pay for it somehow. It’s either a millage rate increase or an EMS tax. Something is going to have to pay for these people.”
Trantalis made it clear he was not swayed.
“I think you’re slapping a pretty face onto a pig,” Trantalis told Herbst. “You’re still raising taxes. Our homeowners are getting hit really hard right now. You all want to support it, go ahead. I just can’t support it.”
If the EMS tax wins commission approval, the fire department won’t be getting an infusion of $53 million, Gollan said. But the city’s day-to-day budget will. So far, no one has specified what that extra money would go to, Gollan said.
“We’d be getting the same amount,” Gollan said of the fire-rescue department. “All it’s doing is creating more transparency in terms of where the money’s going.”
Vice Mayor Steve Glassman and Commissioner Ben Sorensen joined Herbst in saying they wanted to move forward with setting up an EMS taxing district.
Instead of seeking full-cost recovery for emergency medical services, the commission has the option of phasing in the tax at 25% in the first year or at another percentage of their choosing — including zero if the tax can be put off until a later year.
The commission would be required to set the maximum rate for the EMS tax in July. Commissioners would have the option of lowering the final tax rate during two budget hearings in September.
Sorensen said he liked the idea of setting up the taxing district to give the commission more options at budget time later this year.
“I think we should have the structure in place,” he said. “And in terms of actual percentage (of cost recovery), maybe it’s zero. Maybe it’s zero for years.”
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