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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001
Fire and rescue protection for the twin hamlets of San Antonio and Saint Leo is at a crossroads. Elected leaders there face a choice of reorganizing the volunteer department or else hiring Dade City or Pasco County to protect their residents.
Under most circumstances, the volunteers would be the sentimental favorite, having been in the area since 1973. But, the San Antonio Volunteer Department, which serves an area of 71 square miles, is in shambles.
Its poor financial records are a testament to inadequate oversight, even though the department received annual contributions of more than $26,000 from the two cities and leased a publicly owned building. Providing an acceptable accounting of its public financing should be a priority.
The record keeping is so haphazard, the department's corporate status expired last year because nobody filed the necessary documents with the Florida Department of State. No tax returns have been sent to the IRS since 1994, and an ad-hoc committee assembled to review the operations had a difficult time even locating the department checkbook.
Troubles run deeper than dollars and cents. The department is headed by a chief who flip-flopped on his resignation and its staffing has dwindled to about 10 active members.
The ad-hoc committee, formed by the cities, maintains the volunteer effort can be saved if the municipalities: Appoint someone to prepare the current year's tax forms and brace for financial penalties for skipping that chore for the five previous years; ensure an ongoing audit of the 1998 records is completed; audit additional years' spending; revise the bylaws and appoint a public safety board to oversee the department's continued operations.
It is a daunting task for two tiny cities with few public employees and city councils pressed by other full-time job responsibilities. Contracting for professional fire and rescue service is the logical alternative and Pasco County is offering the better deal.
Under the written proposal to San Antonio, Pasco County will accept fire and ambulance protection responsibility in exchange for the current $1.39 per $1,000 tax rate charged by the county's fire district. That equates to just more than $25,000 from the city.
The county will lease the city-owned fire department building for $12,000 annually or $9,600 if the county is required to maintain it. The county will staff the department 24 hours a day with a three-person crew and encourage volunteers to supplement fire-protection and emergency response services by providing them training, uniforms and operational funding.
The takeover also gives a long-term benefit to Pasco County by providing a toehold for services in the vicinity. Currently, the county's closest facilities are in downtown Dade City and in Quail Hollow, just north of State Road 54. It contracts fire protection to some areas of the district to the cities of Dade City and Zephyrhills, but the County Commission indicated last year it would abolish those contracts in three years.
Absorbing the department also readies the county to provide service to Cannon Ranch, a proposed 6,700-home development just west of Saint Leo that is scheduled to join the county's fire district.
While those changes are in the future, the benefit to San Antonio is immediate. Under the proposal, the net cost to San Antonio for professional fire and rescue service is as little as $13,000. Its current volunteer protection costs the city $12,200 -- a $17,000 payment to the department, less $4,800 returned in the building lease.
What's to ponder? San Antonio should accept.