DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — After a year of public tension over the future of fire services, Leon County Commission Chairman Christian Caban and Tallahassee Mayor-elect Jeremy Matlow announced a tentative 20-year framework for a new fire services agreement Thursday.
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The pair drafted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during a private meeting Tuesday.
“I’m proud to announce that Mayor-elect Matlow, and I have reached a tentative agreement of what we believe is a generational public safety deal for our community, one that restructures our fire services partnership and protects both governments and every resident in Leon County, not only during our tenures, but for generations to come,” Caban said.
Caban says the provisions in the MOU are based on stability, accountability and fairness.
The agreement would overhaul how fire services are funded across the county.
If either government plans to terminate the agreement before the 20-year term expires, a 3-year advance notice would be required. Pre-negotiated automatic aid terms would also be built into the contract to prevent a drop in service in the event of termination or expiration.
The city will also be required to provide annually detailed fire budgets, an independent audit of the fire service fund and a performance report that would cover response times, ISO ratings and staffing in unincorporated areas.
The county would also be able to request an audit at anytime, backed by the Fire Service Reserve Fund.
That would be maintained at 20-30% of the annual fire budget to cover any shortfalls or unexpected costs.
Perhaps the biggest changes for residents would be a new billing model as fire assessment would be removed from residents’ utility bills and shifted to “preferably” a square-footage model.
The new structure would also bill vacant land.
“This means for our mobile home residents, neighbors on the Southside, southwest side of the county, neighbors who currently reside in a mobile home, who are paying the same as residents who live in mansions with ginormous homes. We will restructure the rate so that they are being billed fairly and equitably,” Caban said.
The framework also outlines major asset shifts.
Leon County would purchase Fire Stations 10-15. According to Matlow, the price of those stations would depend on the existing interlocal agreement, placing the price of each station at about $525,000.
Once bought, the county would lease the stations back to the city for $1 per year.
Matlow confirmed that the city still plans to build Station 17 on Lake Bradford Road but with a “targeted price cap” of $20 million.
Both governments would also agree to find ways to mutually invest in county-run EMS services as call volumes increase.
Matlow is also pushing to transition firefighters to 42-hour work weeks.
“This agreement doesn't give everybody everything they want, but it will relieve public anxiety over the future of fire service,” Matlow said.
Both leaders say the agreement represents a “clean slate” that would withdraw all termination or expiration notices related to the current agreement and the county would “drop all claims against the city” while negotiating a new agreement from the MOU.
That includes rescinding the county commission’s October decision to pursue a “dual-track path,” which involved simultaneously renegotiating a new fire service agreement with the city while preparing to build a county-run fire department.
The MOU is still subject to review from the city and county legal staff and would need to be approved by both commissions.
Caban called a special Leon County Commission meeting Monday at 3 p.m., which is the same day Matlow would be sworn in as mayor at the city’s Commission Reorganization Meeting.
Matlow says city commissioners will discuss the MOU at the new commission’s first regular meeting on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
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