Two Huge Events Next Week on Fire Service Infrastructure for District 1

On Tuesday--the BCC will be voting on an agreement with the US Navy to acquire 5 acres of property to construct the new Fire Station 20 in Paradise Beach.  The previous station 20 was shut down in 2018 by Administrator Jack Brown.  I have been working ever since to get a replacement, and we are taking another step forward on Tuesday at the meeting.  We have already surveyed this property and purchased some equipment for this station.  It is coming.

And also, on Thursday of next week, we will be cutting the ribbon on Beulah's brand new, state of the art 14,500 SF fire station, the "Bradshaw McNair" fire station.  See the county's press release on this event, below:

"The Bradshaw-McNair Fire Station, serving the residents of the Beulah community, is named after the late District Chief Dwain Bradshaw and retired ECFR District Chief Steve McNair. Chief Bradshaw died in the line of duty while responding to a call on Nov. 6, 2019. Chief McNair served the Beulah community as a volunteer firefighter for over 50 years before retiring. 

The 14,503-square-foot facility will feature four vehicle bays for fire trucks. Along with the standard features within a fire station, such as a kitchen, living room area, gym, bedrooms, and shower facilities, the new Beulah fire station will include a community meeting and training room for public use.

Construction of the Bradshaw-McNair Fire Station was completed by Emerald Coast Constructors, Inc., and was fully funded by Local Option Sales Tax, or L.O.S.T.

"With the opening of the brand new Bradshaw-McNair Fire Station in Beulah, this community will have a state-of-the-art facility, a full-time staff, and multiple pieces of new firefighting and lifesaving equipment that will help protect the citizens and property," said District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh. "This is a fitting tribute to the two men for whom this station is named, Dwain Bradshaw and Steve McNair, as this facility and those who man this station going forward will continue the legacy of service that Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. McNair epitomized. I am thankful for all the staff who worked for the last seven years to keep this project going, and I want to thank my predecessor, Commissioner Wilson Robertson, for his efforts to get momentum behind this project nearly a decade ago. A project like this requires patience, persistence and teamwork, and in this case, the team had it. This station is the fruit of this teamwork."

The Bradshaw-McNair Fire Station is located directly behind the former Beulah Fire Station, which has served Beulah residents since 1977. Numerically, the fire station will remain as ECFR-Station #2.

"This is an exciting time for the community of Beulah and for Escambia County Fire Rescue," said Fire Chief Adam Harrison. "We have seen tremendous growth and opportunity in this community, and we're honored to continue the elevation of Beulah with the addition of this fire station, which will serve the Beulah citizens 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Incorporation of Perdido? Part II--Questions and Answers

 

I attended the informational meeting of the “We are Perdido” effort the other night at Liberty Church in District 1.  I thought the event went well, the speakers did a good job, and the venue was comfortable.  The audio-visual system was very good.  A large crowd was on hand as well, to get the information.

Full Disclosure:  I am agnostic on this effort at incorporation; I am neutral.  This is a decision (whether to incorporate Perdido) of the citizens and residents and business owners of that study area and their decision only.  This is exactly what I told Channel 3 when they interviewed me on this very topic, and it is also what I told InWeekly reporter Tommy St. Meyer when he also recently interviewed me on this topic. Yes, it is in my district---but whether the effort to incorporate is successful or not—that won’t change.  It will still be a part of the county and in District 1. 

But I am going to study and examine every aspect of this initiative to learn all that I can about it so that I can speak to constituents with a more informed opinion when I am asked about this effort.  (I am already getting questions about this incorporation)

So, I came to the meeting.  I stayed for about 1 ½ hours and listened to the presentation.  I was particularly impressed with Lynn Tipton, the guest speaker from the Florida League of Cities.  She brought a power point presentation with lots of useful data to relay to the assembled crowed of about 250 or so.

At the end of the presentation, a brief question and answer session was held.

So, the next day I reached out to Ms. Tipton and had the opportunity to speak with her Wednesday evening about some additional questions I had.

I asked about additional revenue sources the new city, if incorporated, would be able to raise.

According to her, the city can receive a share county’s Local Option gas taxes if they take over the county’s roads within the city’s footprint.  At the meeting, one of the organizers stated in answer to a question about Perdido Key Drive that they would not be seeking to take over the roads and the responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the road.  So, this seems to foreclose Perdido’s ability to tap into those funds.  Tipton did mention that it is not uncommon for some cities in Florida to have county roads within their municipalities.

Other takeaways included the following:

--Parks, Boat Launches, and public beach accesses within this Perdido footprint would remain a part of the county—unless the new city negotiated to take them over and purchase them.

--Potential 10 Mill levy—while completely lawful to do for the new city (Pensacola levies over 4 mills on top of the county’s assessment)-- if the elected councilmen/women of Perdido voted to do this---as a practical matter according to Tipton this is highly unlikely as no Florida municipality has levied this high a number on the citizens served because there is an unacknowledged “cap” where if a certain percentage is levied all the councilpersons get voted out.  People don’t like ad valorem tax rate increases.

--How Much will 1 Mill equate to when applied to We Are Perdido’s self-identified  taxable value of $3.5 Billion?  It appears, stripping out the school board tax and only applying the county’s, the Sheriff’s, and the library districts combined rate of 7.6605 mills---that each “Mill” of value will be approximately $3.5 Million. (Or an easier calculation to make to determine the value of just one mill is to take the total taxable value and either divide by 1000 or multiply by .001.  1 mill = $3.5 Million)

--How would the new city tap into the county’s ½ cent sales tax and 8^th cent gas tax revenues?  The new city would have to qualify to tap into these funds through the Department of Revenue by raising an amount of revenue the equivalent of at least levying 3 Mills to the taxable value of the property within its footprint.   Meaning in order for the fledgling city to tap into the ½ cent DOR revenue and 8^th cent in gas tax---important revenue sources to the city because these revenue sources are bondable---the new city would need to show DOR new revenue generation  of $10.5 Million (3 Mill equivalent) via ad

Incorporation of Perdido?

The decision to incorporate a large swath of SW Escambia County will be up to the voters that live in that area.  It's their decision to make and my only advice to them is this: get informed, ask lots of questions, make a wise decsion, and watch your wallet!

There's been a buzz at the end of this past week about a nascent effort by a few folks to "incorporate" areas of the SW portion of Escambia County into a new City of “Perdido.”

Looking at the comments on the Studio 850 facebook site’s post after this article was published-- it appears as if many would be opposed to this.  Not that a few folks posting on facebook is scientific, though.

People have now asked my opinion about it; I've received a few emails from a handful of constituents.

I've spoken to state level lawmakers about this topic.

Yes, it's out there as an issue--but it is not the big issue.  The big issues are overdevelopment, traffic infrastructure, and stormwater.  These are the issues constituents come to me about consistently--particularly in the areas of D1 that are rapidly growing.  In fact, I had nearly 350 citizens of this very area at my two town halls in Perdido over the last year since this portion of the county reverted to D1 after the redistricting.

And I had lots of good questions from lots of citizens--more than 120 comment/question cards + verbal questions. Between the two meetings and out of all the questions (on overdevelopment, traffic, and stormwater) ----I only had one (1) question on this proposed idea of incorporation.

So, for my part, I let my own words speak for my thoughts on any incorporation, at 1:29:38 of my most recent town hall where I had the one and only question on this topic posed to me by one of the founders and staunchest supporters of incorporation (and former Doug Underhill planning board appointee) Tim Pyle.  And I gave him my answer, publicly.

Ultimately it will be a decision for those residents to make, those residents that live in this group's study area.  I represent a large portion of that area, and that will not change even if this effort is successful at some point down the line—as these areas will still be part of District 1 in Escambia County.  And as the only commissioner of five that has no part of his district within the footprint of an overlapping municipality--in many respects such an incorporation might make my job easier. 

But at the end of the day it is a question for these citizens-- as they will be the ones seeing higher property tax bills and perhaps even other added taxes, bond indebtedness, fees, surcharges, and cost increases to fund an overlapping Perdido municipality-- if this is ultimately approved.

Now, I'm told that 78% of folks recently surveyed "approved" of the plan.  Really?  I have some questions about who was asked and what question was asked--because a lot of the veracity of a poll's purported results depend upon whom was polled and precisely how such poll question(s) are asked.  Was it asked of all residents of the survey/study area?  Did it capture all income demographics?  Were owners and renters asked? Does this plan meet the requirments of 165.061 Florida Statutes? Does this study area even meet the density threshold necessary in state statutes? Did the poll's questions properly describe the fact that full county taxes, including all fire and school board millage rate taxes—plus library and sheriff MSTU’s, would still be collected post any incorporation and that new taxes would be needed to fund any new municipality's operations/personnel and overlapping services provided? (i.e., some who support incorporation may be of the mistaken belief that if they incorporate, they keep the current taxes assessed and collected of the property tax roll within their boundaries--which is not how this works.  Escambia County still would keep all the current revenue from the property within the footprint and any new incorporated municipality would have to raise EXTRA property tax and other revenue via property rate hikes and generated revenue from within their boundaries via increases in other taxes, sales taxes, fees, surcharges etc.----in order to fund their operations.  We [County] also keep all our property and roads and parks and facilities unless the new municipality purchases these and we agree to such purchases. In summary—it appears this would amount to a big, giant tax increase, not a net neutral proposition for current and future property owners and visitors.)  I'm sure there will be many "ah-ha" moments once those initially expressing support for this plan realize this financial implication/reality. Or maybe not?  Who knows?

Too many questions.

Meanwhile-- some proponents of this incorporation sound glib as they falsely claim on radio interviews

Modernizing the Beulah Fire Service

On Thursday the BCC will vote to approve a purchase contract for the property and facility at the Beulah Fire Station as step one in modernizing that facility.

Tomorrow's agenda of the Board of County Commissioners contains an action item for the purchase of the Beulah Fire Station and associated property from the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department.  This is step one in modernizing this aging and inadequate facility so that we can maintain a robust fire service presence in this growing portion of the county.  And it is my vision and my preference that the Volunteers maintain control of this station via a use agreement once we acquire this property.  I also support, if necessary, the establishment of a "day crew" of paid firefighters to man this station during the daytime hours--if this is found to be beneficial and needed after consultations with the volunteers.

To do this, we need to purchase this property, acquire some additional adjacent property, and then modernize the existing bay and facility while adding on a brand new addition containing shower facilities, a kitchen, meeting spaces, and bunk facilities.  This has been a plan for some time, however in early 2016 the purchase fell through.

Once we get the property, if we can come to terms with the Beulah Volunteer Firefighters, Inc. (non-profit corporation that owns this property) I will move quickly to get the ball rolling on the plan to modernize this facility.  Because of the fact that this property is a conglomeration of properties, a portion of which was donated by ECUA--the county is the ideal purchaser of this land.  If another purchaser (a private person) were to pursue this land, the portion of the ECUA donated property would revert back to the County or ECUA--not the new "purchaser."  If the county acquires the property, I'm told we would acquire the entire parcel through the closing process and ECUA would back out.  This makes this parcel ideal for the county, and much less attractive on the open market to an individual buyer.

So my intent is to approve the purchase contract tonight, and hopefully the volunteers will accept the offer and we can move forward with the next phases of this plan--modernizing the facility and adding a bucket truck so that our station has the equipment necessary to handle any potential issues at the new, large building being constructed on the NFCU campus.

If, by chance, the deal cannot be closed with the volunteers, if a much higher-than (market) price is required--then we will perhaps have to look at construction of a new fire facility somewhere else in a central area of Beulah--perhaps over on our soon to be acquired property OLF 8--which in some respects would be closer to the concentrated areas of growth in Beulah and perhaps a better location for a new, modern fire service facility and would not require us to "purchase" the land needed. But Make no mistake--my first choice and option is to leave the station right where it is and to fix it up and modernize it where it stands. It would also be my intention to have the volunteers sign a use agreement and run this new facility if they so choose, as well.

Bottom line:  I respect and support the volunteer firefighters and I want to equip them in an equitable manner so they can continue to serve our growing community--and it is time for this facility to be modernized.