Do you think Florida property tax reform will effect your area?

[wise871]

Since this is a Radio Site, I figured this would be a good topic for discussion. With the upcoming Florida property tax reform coming up, do you think it will have a deep impact to local county Emergency Services when it comes to future radio equipment and upgrades.

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida homeowners would see their property taxes drop by an average of 7 percent this year -- and much more in subsequent years.

I’m not a financial wizard but I’m thinking besides a possible freeze in personnel, there more likely to cut back on new equipment and upgrades. I know in Okaloosa County, they were planning on moving over to the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS). When they decided to make the move a few years ago, the cost for new radios for the Sheriff Department was estimated over a half-million dollars. This figure did not include all the other county agencies they wanted to incorporate.

Would anyone know in this situation if the county has already paid for the new equipment from a previous budget or was this going to be a future buy? Also, does the state assists in the purchase of the new radios? I figured since the state paid for and maintains the towers, it would be up to the county to pay for the radios.

As a scanner hobbyist, I would hate to see Okaloosa County move over to the new system. I have been monitoring them for years and I would miss monitoring the action. As a supporter of the department I support them in getting the latest equipment in performing there duties. I guess will have to wait and see.

Again, I would like to keep the topic on Radio Related items and not make this political.

Dan

 

[N4DES]

I can state that Palm Beach County FR will be impacted solely due the agency being a separate taxing authority and is not funded by the County's General Fund. They will be impacted directly because their budget cannot be supplemented by the general find.

The Sheriff's Office is a General Fund component and they are still negotiating their budget requirements with the Board.

 

[UFEMTFF]

I can state that Palm Beach County FR will be impacted solely due the agency being a separate taxing authority and is not funded by the County's General Fund. They will be impacted directly because their budget cannot be supplemented by the general find.

The Sheriff's Office is a General Fund component and they are still negotiating their budget requirements with the Board.

And because they've been spending far outside their means in my opinion.

4 door rescues? 3 crew members on a rescue? Rescue at every station? 3 quick examples of things other departments don't do that could reduce costs.

 

[UFEMTFF]

Sweet...double post!

 

[bravo14]

I believe around my area would be affect. It had to do a lot of people from up north coming down here saying the taxes are too high we didn't pay that up there! If that happens than the response of Units will be slower and back up. Than they how come you took for ever to get here etc... than a law suit comes in. That shouldn't be that way!

 

[visegrip72]

I think the entire state will be act even if not hit. I think we will be honestly hit in some areas, as listed above, but other areas have ALREADY acted like they lost all funding, which is wrong. My kids take a self defence (martial arts) class that is held in a park rec center. They told us the building will be closing at 7 pm instead of 9pm and the program will be cut drastically. We pay quite a bit for this class, and the sunsei has offered to not take any profit from the fee paid to the park, no go. That is BS, and since nothing really has been officially changed here, I think it is a political ploy to help the unsure not vote for the bill(s).

Personnally, I know what I am getting for my tax money. It may not be spent as efficiantly as possible. Look at all the programs around here, libraries being built, schools with tons of technology being put in, etc. Our money is being put to good use. I would not mind paying an extra 100-500$ a year if I knew it meant a few more deputies in the area. Everyone wants stuff for free.

 

[WX4JCW]

Orange County Fire was crying that they would have to lay off personell initially, but now they are settling for not installing there new GPS Capable fire Hydrants, ok i am a big FD supporter but why in the heck would a fire department need a gps locator unit on a Fire Hydrant? they have MDT's and I know the Guy doing the GIS encoding (he was my supervisor at one point and one heck of a good guy, if they have mapping on the laptops why cant they update the hydrant locations on the maps? this makes no sense to me

not to mention the fd wants to encrypt (at least Orlando does)

to me this is a waste of money and i applaude the legislature for making the local governments have to think about what they buy and not try to scare residents.

 

[n4dog]

I dont think it is going to hurt that many of the fire dept/police department. The counties/cities are going to have to trim the fat. In Tallahassee we are not going to get our MULTI-MILLON dollar joint dispatch like the Sheriff wanted but that is the only thing that is goign to be affected radio wise here.