MANATEE COUNTY – Fire assessment rates will be increasing for residents and business owners in the West Manatee Fire Rescue district.
Though rates in WMFR’s district could go up as high as 6.7%, the assessment rate for the 2023-24 fiscal year is expected to increase by 4%, or about $13.42 for the average homeowner.
Commissioners and staff met on April 18 for a mid-year budget workshop prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting. During the meeting, Chief Ben Rigney gave commissioners three rate proposals for the new fiscal year set to begin on Oct. 1 – a 0%, 4% or 6.7% increase. Rigney recommended the 4% increase to allow for additional funds to be collected through tax assessment revenue to help fund district needs, primarily the addition of nine new staff members.
The planned new hires include six firefighters – two additional people per shift with one of the new firefighters stationed on Anna Maria Island – two new fire inspectors and a financial clerk who was just hired as support staff for the district’s fire prevention bureau.
The two new fire inspectors would work to help with inspections of vacation rental properties in WMFR’s district, an initiative planned to begin in October. Inspectors will be operating under the Florida Fire Prevention Code and looking for any potential dangers to life or safety on the properties. Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski said that inspectors will operate independently of any vacation rental inspection or certificate programs already in place on the Island, though he added that they would try to work with all city code compliance/enforcement personnel to not overlap efforts and inconvenience property owners.
The increase in assessment also covers the cost of increases in insurance and planned raises, among other administrative items for the district. The district’s assessment rates are based on the size of a building on a property or a flat rate if the property is vacant, not the property’s value. With a 4% increase, income from assessment rates would increase an estimated $382,482 in the 2023-24 fiscal year from $9,562,071 to $9,944,554.
District property owners will see the increase on their TRIM notices this fall if it is approved by a vote of fire commissioners during the board’s May meeting.
Currently, district property owners with a 2,000-square-foot home pay $336.22 per year for fire and rescue services through the district when they pay their tax bill. With a 4% increase, that amount would rise to $349.63, an increase of $13.42.
The owner of a 2,000-square-foot commercial property paid $753.19 to the district in the 2022-23 fiscal year. That number would increase to $783.32 if the 4% increase is approved, a jump of $20.13.
Commissioners are expected to vote on the proposed assessment rate increase during a May 16 meeting at the district’s administration building.
