By LAURA FIGUEROA
Bradenton Herald (Florida)
Manatee County’s 13 fire districts all have the same mission: to save lives and property.
But they do so in an environment of rising costs, wildly varying growth patterns and an uneven distribution of resources.
Each district has its own chief, budget and agenda.
Pay for fire chiefs in some districts exceeds the national average; in others, the chiefs get no pay at all. And the differences in budgets, facilities and equipment are just as striking.
Some chiefs say the level of cooperation among the districts has increased in the past couple of years. But when talk turns to creating a consolidated countywide fire department, both county officials and fire chiefs are eeply divided.
Proponents of consolidation say it leads to standardization and cost efficiencies.
Opponents say consolidation takes administration of services too far from the people the departments serve without solving many issues. In Sarasota County, for instance, which has consolidated fire services, contract negotiations have been stalled with the union and administration worlds apart on the issue of pay.
In Manatee County, where most departments are not unionized, the numbers offer some telling clues about the disparate business of firefighting and emergency medical calls.
With its $11.7 million budget, the Southern Manatee Fire District answers 4,400 calls a year in a 34-square-mile area.
Bradenton covers a more densely populated 15 square miles, handling 5,000 calls a year on a $6.2 million budget.
East Manatee, which experienced the greatest growth of any fire district in the past decade, has a $7.4 million budget, 100 square miles of territory to cover and 2,300 calls a year.
And then there is Duette, with 210 square miles, 80 calls a year and a $35,000 annual budget.
The all-volunteer Duette Fire Department is housed in a pole barn. Check marks scribbled onto a white dry-erase board represent needs for firefighter equipment.
Some Duette volunteers are fortunate enough to have all their equipment, while others are missing fire-resistant gloves, boots or helmets.
“We’re always trying to find ways to do more with less,” said Duette Fire Chief Jim Leonard, standing next to a 1991 fire engine donated by another fire district.
It’s the newest model at the station.
The Taj Majal
The Cedar Hammock Fire District has one of the costliest fire buildings in Manatee County, a 16,000-square-foot station that was built in 2005 at $156 per square foot - the best “bang for the buck” in today’s construction market, Chief Randall Stulce says.
The $2.8 million two-story building at 5200 26th St. W. looks like the “Taj Mahal” in comparison to the station in Duette, some Bradenton residents say.
The two-story station towers over other neighboring one-story buildings on its block. Though some residents have complained that the station is too opulent, Stulce says he takes the “Taj Mahal” term as a compliment.
“We built a facility that will last 80 years or more,” Stulce said. The building combined three existing structures into a fire station/administration building. “We didn’t want to build a building that would only be there for 20 years and have to be rebuilt again.”
Some of the other stations being built in the county include East Manatee’s Fire Station No. 5 at Lakewood Ranch, costing $1.9 million, and Myakka City’s Station No. 2 for $500,000.
Station No. 2, which will have two office rooms, sleeping quarters and a meeting room, will do the job in meeting the community’s needs, says Myakka City Fire Chief Danny Cacchiotti.
“It’s nothing too fancy,” Cacchiotti said. “I would say we’re getting the most for our money.”
Fire chief pay
The disparity in budgets is also evident in the pay scales for each district. While the increase in pay for a fire chief from the 2004-2005 fiscal year to the 2005-2006 fiscal year at the West Manatee Fire District was 5 percent, at Southern Manatee it was 15 percent.
According to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, the national base salary for a fire chief ranges from $68,701 to $89,928. In Manatee County, the pay for many fire chiefs exceeds the national average, going as high as $88,000 at Longboat Key and $98,000 at Southern Manatee.
The East Manatee Fire District approved pay raises of up to 10 percent for its staff. Chief Byron Teates attributes that to the competitive market in Manatee County, with each department trying to attract firefighters to their district.
“We’ve been so far behind for so many years, basically it’s been to bring us up to what the county average is,” Teates said.
Many of the fire stations enter interlocal agreements to aid each other in responding to calls. The Parrish Fire District, once all-volunteer, entered into an agreement to have North River Chief Michael Johnson also serve as its chief starting in 2001.
“Parrish has all this nice stuff,” said John Leonard, a former North River firefighter who said he plans on running for a seat on the North River Fire Commission to voice his concerns about how money is spent. “Of course, they can afford newer stuff if they don’t have to pay $70,000 for a new chief.”
But Johnson said neither district should feel shortchanged. A corner in his office is littered with large rolls of maps and floor plans detailing new and proposed stations in each district. Although new equipment was purchased for the station in Parrish, he says, that does’nt indicate a lack of service to North River’s district.
“The equipment purchases in Parrish were necessary because there was a lack of equipment, and a definite need to bring the station up to standard,” Johnson said.
Consolidation pros, cons
In 2001, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), an office of the Florida Legislature, released a report about mergers among the fire districts in the state and the possible benefits of consolidating districts.
“Cooperation among local fire departments has emerged as a way to deal with an environment of increasing needs, rising costs, and decentralized service delivery,” the report said.
In noting the benefits, however, the report stated that the mergers would only be successful if guidelines were set for the various districts.
OPPAGA recommended that the state Department of Community Affairs and the State Fire Marshal establish a task force to tackle the issue. But no such task force was created, and the recommendations were dropped, said Kara Collins-Gomez, a researcher on the project.
While consolidated districts may be more cost-effective in the long run, the decision to move toward consolidation can be a very “political” issue, said County Commission Chairman Joe McClash, who supports consolidation.
It would mean eliminating many key positions, for starters.
“Our board has been very straightforward about looking at it realistically,” said Chief Andy Price with the West Manatee Fire District. “As long as you get some districts that are uninterested, then it will most likely not happen. In the 27 to 28 years I’ve been working in the county, it’s always been looked at - but I don’t know how likely it is that consolidation will happen.”
County Commissioner Donna Hayes doesn’t believe consolidation suits the county’s needs.
“I have not been thoroughly convinced that consolidation is a positive step,” Hayes said. “I believe in local control. We have such a diverse need among the different districts that people prefer to have their own local departments.”
But when Sarasota consolidated into a countywide fire district in 1996, the department benefited from pooled resources, Chief Brian Gorski says.
“There were a number of efficiencies gained,” Gorski said. “The prior independent fire districts perhaps could not afford a new ladder truck because of their tax base, each fire district would have needed one. But when you pool these resources you don’t need these big items, and avoid spending on duplication.”
Sarasota consolidated in several stages, with an initial set of mergers starting in 1985. The plan included reducing the number of personnel and administration in each district, but Sarasota eased the transition by having officers maintain their same level of pay and rank until they retired. Once retired, instead of having their position replaced, an entry-level position was added to the roster.
In Pinellas County, where the consolidation issue has been discussed since 1992, an independent study completed in November 2005 concluded that consolidating Pinellas’ four fire districts and 15 city fire departments would result in a potential savings of $20 million.
“I do think Manatee County could benefit by a consolidated district,” McClash said. “There would be more efficient service, less costs associated, and you wouldn’t have fire stations overlapping other fire stations.”
Catching up with growth
Districts like East Manatee, North River, Myakka and Parrish are trying to catch up with the growing number of developments lining their streets. North of the Manatee River, a projected 33,000 homes have been proposed and/or approved since 2000, according to The Herald’s development database.
While other districts in the western portion of the county seem to be “built out,” southeast Manatee and areas north of the Manatee River are the fastest growing, each having at least one new station in the works.
East Manatee will open its fifth fire station by April, Teates said, adding that his district is looking into acquiring land for its sixth and seventh stations.
North River will be adding a fifth station near Moccasin Wallow Road, with talks of a sixth station in the works, said Chief Johnson.
The problem that some districts encounter is planning ahead for the growth before they have an ample tax base to help fund new departments.
“We’re trying to stay ahead of the growth, but if you build a fire station and the growth is not there, you won’t have a tax base to support the station,” Johnson said.
Today, the 97-square-mile area that encompasses the Parrish district is serviced by only one fire station; the district is planning to open four more stations in the next 10 years.
Myakka City’s fire district has been covering 230 square miles with one station but is preparing to open a second station near Verna Bethany Road in February. Chief Cachiotti said the second station will be staffed largely by part-time firefighters.
In Duette, where Jim Leonard’s boss is all too familiar with his employees rushing off in the middle of the day to deal with a brush fire, the community is trying to create its own special taxing district to meet its basic needs.
Leonard’s department has hired an attorney to help the community draft a charter, which would then have to be approved by the Florida Legislature.
The all-unpaid volunteer department is funded through roughly $21,000 provided by the county’s parks department and from donations.
“Our biggest challenge? Money,” Leonard said. “Most of all, we would like to have enough basic equipment for all of our firefighters.”
Even if departments wanted to add volunteer firefighters to their roster, Jim Leonard said, providing equipment and training for one volunteer costs roughly $3,000.
No choice but cooperation
Many of the departments started out as all-volunteer, but they have evolved into full-fledged tax-supported districts with three or more stations. Departments such as North River, West Manatee and Southern Manatee are already the product of such merged districts.
Cedar Hammock and Whitfield fire districts have an interlocal agreement, where Cedar Hammock provides full-time staff for Whitfield’s volunteer department. The two departments are looking into the prospect of merging. They plan on holding a referendum during the 2006 primary election and, if voters like the plan, they will take the proposal to the state Legislature in 2007.
Aside from mergers and mutual aid agreements, the various departments all train and purchase equipment together. The Manatee County Fire Chiefs Association, with chiefs from each district, also meets monthly.
“There’s not as much turf-guarding anymore,” Price said. “There’s no longer that old-time mentality of taking care of our own.”
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National Base Salary Avg. Minimum: $68,701
National Base Salary Avg. Maximum: $89,928
Bradenton: $95,500
Cedar Hammock: $95,167
East Manatee: $91,691
Longboat Key: $88,067
Myakka City: $46,000
North River: $87,000
Southern Manatee: $98,482
West Manatee: $92,714
Whitfield: 0*
Trailer Estates: 0*
Duette: 0*
Pinellas Park Fire District (Pinellas County): $95,216
Sarasota County Fire Department: $98,529
South Trail Fire District (Ft. Myers): $99,000
*volunteer