During the Brooksville City Council’s June 24 special meeting, Mayor Blake Bell and company touched on various points regarding the Brooksville Fire Department. The council voted to raise the fire assessment rate at Monday’s meeting and there were some increases in the department’s budget, and they also discussed the county “absorbing” the city’s fire station. No decision was reached on the last topic, though. That will require much greater research and debate.
Mayor Bell recommended the council make a .7 percent increase to the assessment rate, and the resolution was passed unanimously after a motion by Council Member Casey Thieryung. City Council Finance Director Autumn Sullivan noted that Brooksville has tended to raise the fire assessment rate by roughly three percent each year. The county only had about .7 percent left to increase the rate until it reached its maximum limit regardless. Once they conduct a new study next year, they will be able to properly budget for increases or decreases in the fire assessment rate from there.
So, what exactly do fire assessment rates do? The Sarasota County Government’s website describes its function as “fund[ing] fire services through a special assessment which ensures property owners that benefit from the service share in the cost of the service.”
Fire Chief Brad Sufficool came before the council to break down the major changes and increases in the budget. With the department at the cap of the current fire assessment rate, a new study costing $37,000 is set to be conducted. Another of these adjustments was caused by the across-the-board minimum wage rise to $15 an hour, which City Manager Charlene Kuhn stated must take place by 2026. ALS (Advanced Life Support) training also accounts for $15,000 of the department’s budget increase.
The department has also put in a request for a Polaris “side-by-side” cart to transport patients from events to medical rescue points. The cart will be outfitted with the necessary medical equipment, lights, and signage. The last major increase was caused by the change in the “data management platform” that is being used by the department. The transferring of data from one software to another will require a fee to carry out the process. The fire department was also awarded a $25,000 Florida Department of Health EMS grant that allowed for a slight increase in their budget.
Councilman Thomas Bronson also began a dialogue on the potential absorption of the local fire department by the county. Bronson noted that he had spoken to multiple county commissioners about the idea and asked the fire chief what the negatives would be even if they made sure to “keep the Brooksville identity.” Bronson continued that this potential deal would allow the department to keep the name and look and potentially save the city money.
Chief Sufficool responded that this concept has come up before and “when you – I don’t want to say – outsource your services, you do lose some control of what level of service you’re getting […] Once you sell the farm, it is hard to get it back.” It might seem like a good deal at first, but without more concrete data on exactly what perks would come from this exchange, there was not enough information available to make a decision. That was how Council Member Christa Tanner felt as well.
Three days later, Chief Sufficool’s retirement from the Brooksville Fire Department was announced on social media. The City posted, “Chief, Thank you for your 23 years of service to the City of Brooksville. Wishing you and your family all the best in retirement!”
