Sanibel fire commission OKs millage rate, budget
The Sanibel Fire and Rescue District’s commission adopted a final millage rate of 1.3089 mills and a budget of $11,395,022 for the upcoming fiscal year at its recent second and final budget hearing.
On Sept. 23, Commissioners Bruce Cochrane and Richard McCurry voted 2-0 for the proposed operating rate — a 22.02 percent increase over the rolled-back rate of 1.0727 mills — along with the general fund for 2021-22. Commissioner Jerry Muench had an excused absence for the hearing.
A mill is $1 per every $1,000 of taxable valuation. The rolled-back rate is the rate it would take to generate the same amount of revenue in the coming fiscal year as was generated in the previous year.
The Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office certified that the gross taxable value for operating purposes not exempt from taxation within Lee County to the fire district as $5,735,681,035.
The approved rate of 1.3089 will provide $7,057,433 in proceeds for the general fund.
The approved budget includes expenditures, transfers, reserves and balances.
Highlights from the 2021-22 budget include: a new security system, which will cost $60,000; an air system that has to be updated, which could run another $50,000; and an increase to the apparatus reserves, which would allow the district to buy what it needs with cash instead of having to finance, which will make any purchases less expensive.
The district will also put money aside for a new vehicle for the fire marshall and Fire Station 172. According to staff, the center bays at the station are no longer usable because the new fire trucks are larger than what the district used to have and no longer fit within the bays. Fire Chief William “Bill” Briscoe previously reported that they must decide to either replace the bays or rebuild the station.
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