{"id":43398,"date":"2019-06-13T11:09:38","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T15:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=43398"},"modified":"2019-06-13T11:09:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T15:09:57","slug":"now-the-fire-district-plans-to-regroup-and-go-to-plan-b-and-raise-everyones-taxes-to-full-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/06\/now-the-fire-district-plans-to-regroup-and-go-to-plan-b-and-raise-everyones-taxes-to-full-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"Now the fire district plans to regroup and go to plan b and raise everyone’s taxes to full assessment."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Could the future of advanced life-support ambulance services\nand the construction of a planned fire station face an uncertain future in\nLehigh Acres after the defeat last week of a proposal to raise more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now, without the added revenue, station 106 won’t\nhappen,” said Chief Robert DiLallo. “We simply can’t afford to build,\nstaff or operate the station. This also means we won’t be able to meet the\ncounty’s requirements for rescue response times. The next step is to meet with\nthe county and turn in our report. From there the county will decide what steps\nthey want to take.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire district board chair Cathy Kruse said loss of the\nlocal ambulance service is a possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The county is going to play a big role,” she said.\n“Whether they decide to take over Lehigh ambulance service \u2014\nit remains to be seen or not.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chairman Cathy Kruse likes to use threats when talking to\nthe voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee County cannot take the ambulance services away for\nLehigh Acres. One simple fact Lehigh Acres fire has pledged their ambulance\nservice fees to pay for the 8.9-million-dollar loan they took out. Lee County cannot\nremove the ambulance service without doing great financial harm to the Lehigh Acres\nfire district.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synovus Bank that holds the note for the 8.9-million-dollar loan\nwould not comment on possibility of the fire district not having the funds\nyearly to pay back the loan at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest issue is: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county public safety chief also suggested the Fire\nDistrict could improve its time getting ambulances “out-of-chute”\nand on the road after being dispatched “through a concerted effort by\ntheir staff.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recommending short-term renewal for Lehigh, Public Safety\nDirector Benjamin Abes told county commissioners in March that more than 20\npercent of the calls don’t meet the time standard. Lehigh Acres Fire Ambulances\ntakes longer than the standard 60 seconds to get “out-of-chute” and\nrolling after being dispatched during the day. It takes more than a minute and\na half at night. (editor note – Why?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like other members of the fire district board, Kruse\u2019s son employed\nby the department. Also, Commissioner Cia Sherman husband was just promoted to engineer.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to DiLallo, the referendum outcome means not only\na large shortfall in its budget but no way to fund a new station in the North\nSunshine Boulevard section of the district’s territory. But Chief Robert Dilallo\nhas already stated in a public meeting that when the repairs are done to\nstation 1 on Joel Blvd, he is planning to move the double mobile home to the new\nstation location on Sunshine Blvd for EMS to run out of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, Lehigh Fire Control and Rescue District doesn’t\nmeet the county’s time requirement often enough for a full, two-year\ncertification. According to Lee County Public Safety Director Benjamin Abes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lee County cannot meet the call times neither. But Abes\nwill not talk about that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you use a stop watch from Station 1 or Station 3 and\nhead to North Sunshine you can be there in less than 8 minutes driving at\nnormal speeds, so what is the real issues with Lee County and Lehigh Acres Fire\nDistrict?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what will the Lehigh Acres Fire Commissioners do now after\nthe defeat of a proposal to raise more money? PLAN B?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire board has four tax options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Do nothing \u2026\u2026<\/li>
  2. Charge the maximum amount on the current fire\nassessment (approx. $343.00 per house)<\/li>
  3. Change to ad-valorem from the current fee\nassessment<\/li>
  4. Spend another $100,000 to $200,000 dollars on an\nelection in 2020<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Fire Board Chairman Cathy Kruse threaten the taxpayers at\nthe May 28, 2019 meeting, \u201cif they did not vote for the new simplified\nassessment fee we will just go back to ad-valorem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But Commissioner Debbie Cunningham said on Facebook on June\n6, 2019.  \u201cThe citizens of Lehigh Acres had better hope that the board\nDOES NOT go back to ad-valorem. As one of you of your commissioners, I will not\nagree with that, because your taxes will go up. Those who are currently exempt\nfrom nonad-valorem taxes, will lose those exemptions, and will be required to\npay those taxes. I personally, as one of your commissioners, will NOT vote to\ngo back to ad-valorem taxes for the district. Several of us tried to educate\nour citizens, but many preferred to listen to those who gave out false\ninformation. The referendum will be back on the general ballot in the election\nyear 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Despite the recent defeat, DiLallo remains dedicated to help\npush the fire district through and continue to provide firefighting and ALS\nservices for preserving life and property within the 142 square mile district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “This fire department has and will always try to do the\nbest they can do with what we have,” DiLallo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District will hold\nits next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, June 25, at 5 p.m. Meeting are\nheld at fire station 104 at 3102 16th Street SW, Lehigh Acres. For more\ninformation visit www.lehighfd.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, what do you think the Lehigh Acres Fire Commissioners\nare going to do? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Could the future of advanced life-support ambulance services and the construction of a planned fire station face an uncertain future in Lehigh Acres after the defeat last week of a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}