By Terry O’Connor
The Sarasota Herald Tribune
ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — Fire district commissioners are trying to avoid layoffs, tax increases or cuts in service as they attempt to cut 10 percent from the Englewood Fire Department’s $6 million budget.
The commissioners must slash $600,000 to balance the budget, said Englewood Fire District Chairwoman Dee Hawkins. The budget must be set before the fiscal year begins Oct. 1, Hawkins said, and it could require special sessions to do so.
Rising fuel and power costs along with the virtual end of impact-fee revenues mean expenses must be cut, Hawkins said. Some progress has been made, but the commissioners will continue to trim spending at their meeting on Wednesday.
“We made some pretty good cuts,” said Commissioner Charlie Bray after the Aug. 12 session. “We’re working on it as fast as we can.”
An estimated $80,000 will be saved by not hiring a new assistant chief after Kirk Gaskell takes a pension buyout, Hawkins said.
The commissioners are also reviewing all insurance coverage and advertising expenses and have eliminated the budget for all but one pager.
Another chunk of money will be saved by hiring a new fire chief to replace Mike Bonakoske, who is taking a buyout. Bonakoske makes an estimated $110,000 and his successor will not make as much.
Commissioners also must begin looking for Bonakoske’s replacement since his last day is Nov. 30.
Many more cuts will be needed to balance the budget, Hawkins said, and everything is on the table.
“We’re going line by line in the budget,” Hawkins said.
The 26-year-old independent fire district is funded by a non-ad-valorem assessment on 50,000 year-round residents in Englewood, Cape Haze, Grove City, Manasota Key, Placida and Rotonda.
Taxes will be raised if enough cuts cannot be made, Bray said.
But Hawkins wanted to reassure business owners and residents worried about incurring a tax increase during a recession that everything is being done to avoid it.
“The board is not looking to put any type of hardship on residents or businesses,” Hawkins said.
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