Marissa E. Beyer Community Reporter Lehigh Acres Gazette
May 6, 2019
Picture a packed room with citizens of a community, concerned over the same thing – the proposed Lehigh Acres Fire Assessment.
During the Community Council meeting on Monday, May 6, Lehigh Acres council members along with the Lehigh Acres Fire Chief met community members to answer critical questions over the concerns of the Fire Assessment.
Lehigh Acres Fire Chief, Robert Dilallo began the meeting with a presentation to overview what the Fire Assessment would mean for the community. Lehigh Acres itself is growing and with that comes more emergencies.
Currently, the Lehigh Acres Fire Department has five fire stations. Each covers 142 square miles. As Lehigh continues to grow in population, so do emergencies. Chief Dilallo stated in his presentation the Lehigh Acres Fire Department is in need of better emergency response time. Fire Chief Robert Dilallo, stated “it currently takes LAFD 14 – 20 minutes to get to a fire.” and a fire only needs a maximum six minutes to burn down an entire house.
The Fire chief says a Fire Assessment would help with emergency response times by adding a sixth fire station. Another benefit the chief stated was better funding for services and equipment for fire protection, including emergency medical services.
After listening and viewing the presentation from the fire chief and the Fire department, the meeting turned to community members for questions. Community members’ main concern was how much the Fire Assessment would cost in taxes? The Fire Assessment proposes a more equitable rate to bring high and low assessed homes closer together in rate. The presentation stated that 11 out of 12 homes would end up paying less in taxes for fire protection. The presentation also stated commercial business, large and small will see lower fire protection rates.
However, investors were not convinced. An investor stated how her undeveloped areas of land would rise in taxes from $25.29 per lot to now $165.00. Others commented on the cost of having a special election to vote on the Fire Assessment. Supervisor of Elections,
Tommy Doyle stated, “It’s going to cost the fire district around $100,000 to run the election on June 4.”
The overall goal of the fire assessment is to keep up with the demand and growth in Lehigh Acres. There are over 91,000 acres in Lehigh, which are undeveloped.
Undeveloped land equals fire hazards. At the same time as Lehigh Acres it grows in population, the demand for quicker response in times of emergency will go up as well.
Is the Fire Assessment worth another tax when weighing it? With the special election is coming up on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, you decide.
