Letters to the Editor
Don't compare Midway's apples to Milton's oranges

I attended the Midway Fire Department meeting last [week] and heard the stats on what will happen if the proposed double homestead constitutional amendment passes on the Jan. 29, 2008 ballot and if Midway Fire Department does not get their request for a tax amendment. If you are comparing Midway with Milton you have to be sure you compare apples with apples. Midway, Holley- Navarre, and Avalon Fire Districts are all Independent Special Districts under the State of Florida and the other fire districts in the north end of the county are MSBU fire departments.

Holley-Navarre Fire District choose to ask for a flat rate on lots, homes are based on sq ft as is commercial property so we will not be affected as much as the other two departments.

I will be most happy to meet with you and discuss the issue and have you speak to any of our fire fighters. When you are sitting in front of the tv, get a clock or watch and hold your breath for 5-10 minutes and see how you feel. When one is dying, minutes mean the difference betweet living or possibly dying. Ask yourself, if the $154 I will save in taxes worth the loss of quality of life, i.e. 35 members of the sheriffs office and two thirds of Midways fire department. Without mutual aid, Midway will have to pay when any other fire department responds. Where will they get the money? How much is your child's life worth? Is it worth $15 a month? How about your husband, mother, father, friend? Paid fire departments have a much shorter run time compared to volunteer departments because they are ready to go.

Having highly trained fire fighters save lives. Have you ever used the Midway fire department? I hope you will write about more than dollars in your next story.

Lauretta B. Aiken

Navarre

Jazzy Jelly Fish Café staff thanks GB Rotary membership

On behalf of the Jazzy Jellyfish Café, I would like to thank the Gulf Breeze Rotary Club for their overwhelming generosity, investing over $500 start up capital for our 2008 opening. We're thrilled to know the Gulf Breeze Rotary Club has a desire to support and encourage local young and impressionable entrepreneurs. The Jazzy Jellyfish Café provides Gulf Breeze Elementary children the opportunity to demonstrate a Rotary Club motto "Service Above Self". The life skills that are learned from participating in the café are invaluable to our students. The excitement, enthusiasm, and pride that comes from café work is evident on each child's face. Thank you for investing in our future leaders and making sure "Our Business is Really Cooking!"

Leslie Jolly, CEO Jazzy

Jellyfish Café Cindy Shaw, COO Jazzy

Jellyfish Café

Third Grade Teachers,

Gulf Breeze Elem. School

MFD is completely out of control

In response to the proposed Fire Assessment Fee, a tax by any other name is still a tax. I would hope that all voters in this district will recognize this fact.

Some three months ago, the Fire Department was petitioning the county to provide ambulance service to the entire county and now they claim that they can't even provide fire and emergency services with their current revenues, sounds like new management should be considered rather than more money. I applaud the taxpayers in this district for their desire to implement a paid fire department to replace the volunteer system as call volumes increased. However, as is the case with many good intentioned governmental endeavors, this department has become a runaway train and needs to be controlled financially. This district has given Chief Demeter every gadget that he can think of in an effort to proide him all the latest and greatest tools to provide emergency services to its citizens. In this time of crazy insurance rates, primarily storm and wind (not fire), and Florida taxes that are already through the roof, I would hope that the voters would deny this new tax. I very seriously doubt that we will see a reduction in services if this is denied, although maybe we will see a few less fire department SUVs and pick-up trucks traveling Highway 98.

It is also shown that a higher tax will be placed on commercial property as opposed to residential, which will ultimately be diverted to all taxpayers in the district through higher prices for goods and services. Businesses in this area are already having a tough enough time making a go of it. This increase could amount to as much as 43% of the property tax already placed on business property.

In closing, I urge all voters in the Midway Fire District to vote NO on January 29, 2008.

C. Ray Bohon

Gulf Breeze

MFD proposes open ended tax

On January 29, 2008, Midway Fire District residents have an extremely serious vote to consider. I am in total support of our local firefighters BUT I am extremely dissatisfied with the Midway Fire Commissioners' and chief's blatant disregard of their fiscal responsibility. The proposed referendum (tax), if passed, can be reassessed every year at the whims of the fire district alone. This tax has the potential to increase the Midway Fire District's funding by 164 percent through your property tax bill. Santa Rosa residents in this district already contribute through ad valorem taxes to this fire district. The Midway Fire District (MFD) is not controlled or overseen by the county commissioners, but by the Midway Fire Commissioners and the local voting residents in the district. If the initial referendum passes, this year residents will pay approximately $224 per household, plus an ad valorem tax. If MFD decides they want more money from you next year, they could raise the allotment to $235 per household without a vote. What happens the next year or the next? The same consequences without a vote.

In 1982, the Midway Fire Protection District was formed. The district is funded with ad valorem taxes from the property owners of the district. The service provided was fire protection. The need is the same today. So why do they want more money? Midway Fire responds to fire emergencies. They also respond to medical emergencies. However, Lifeguard Ambulance is the county appropriated service that provides medical emergency service to this same area. This is duplication of services. MFD also wants the money for hazardous material emergencies. Two regional Haz-Mat Teams, one in Okaloosa County and one in Escambia County are equipped and manned to respond to Haz-Mat incidents statewide. This is a duplication of services. When is the last time we had a hazardous material emergency in South Santa Rosa County? MFD has spent more Haz-Mat time outside our area with this unit than in the district. MFD also wants money to pay for disaster response. Disaster response is the responsibility of Santa Rosa County and you are already paying for that service, through your ad valorem tax. This is a duplication of services.

I should point out that the MFD received a federal grant to purchase a unit and buy a truck. Grants for additional personal are not without future costs that must be locally funded. If the money is gone, where is the additional money for additional equipment, insurance, and wages? It will come from us. Not only does this affect every homeowner in the district, it affects every business in the district. Small business owners will be paying per square foot and they will have to pass the cost on to you, the homeowner or business owner. Please vote "no" to this referendum to save us all from duplication of services at the notion of the MFD commissioners and chief.

Lastly, this referendum is a tax. Don't let anybody tell you anything else. It is a tax and will be on your tax bill. You will have to pay it or a lien will be placed on your property. It is an open ended tax and you cannot write it off on your federal income taxes because it is not based on value. Please vote "no" on the Midway Fire District Referendum.

David Szymanski

Assistant City Manager,

City of Gulf Breeze

MFD needs to move from ad valorem

We Need to Vote for the Midway Fire District (MFD) Assessment Fees.

The bottom line is this, if you don't vote to approve the Midway Fire Department Assessment Fees, most everything that you and I have paid for over the past five years is going to go down the drain.

I wish I could tell you that I support the Fire Assessment Fee 100 percent, but I can't. I wish I could tell you that the commissioners on the Midway Fire Department are all to blame for what is happening and why we are in a crisis but I can't do that either.

Like everything in life, it's not black and white. I would like to take a few minutes of your time telling you what I've learned over the past two months, attending meetings, talking to commissioners, other fire departments in the area and reading everything I can get my hands on.

MFD has been doing just fine with the 1.4 percent ad valorem tax rate we approved several years ago. Our fire department has gone from a staff of volunteers to fully trained professionals in a very short period of time. The push for education and training over the past few years has produced an excellent staff and for that we should be thankful. I'm sure anyone who has needed the help of the Fire Department can attest to the professional service that they've been given.

The Fire Department has been able to grow, spending what we approved, along with a few grants to buy extra equipment and hire on extra staff. Even with the slight reduction in revenue, caused by the lower assessed land values after Hurricane Ivan, the fire department was doing fine.

Enter Amendment One. With the ad valorem tax tied directly to the assessed value of our property, the fire department stands to take a direct hit, to the tune of about 20 percent of their ad valorem revenue. In order to combat the lost of this revenue the fire department commissioners decided to get away from the ad valorem tax, along with countless other fire departments across the state, and go to an assessment fee.

What the Fire Commissioners did next, is where I believe they went wrong. When you are faced with a loss of revenue and decide to ask the voters to approve a different avenue to pay for the same services, what do you do? The commissioners decided to plan for the future and add growth into the assessment fee. I can't really blame them but given the current economy in our area I don't think it was a wise choice. If the assessment fee had been a direct replacement for the ad valorem tax, dollar for dollar, convincing the public of the need to switch would have been much easier.

So where do we stand? If Amendment One passes and I truly believe it will, and the assessment fee fails, MFD will see a $450,000 drop in revenue and need to repay $350,000 in SAFER grant money. This grant money is dependent on minimum staffing levels (remember the extra staff I mentioned earlier.) Somewhere around two thirds of our fire department staff, the same men and women that we have been training for the past few years to bring our area up to the best in the county, will be heading down the road to look for other jobs. I don't believe sending these people away from our area, from their homes, would be in our best interest.

The Midway Fire Department needs to go away from the ad valorem tax and the assessment fee is a way that they can continue without worrying about what happens in Tallahassee. We need to vote for the assessment fee to keep our fire protection at the current level.

Biff Wheeler

Gulf Breeze