A local group of policymakers is fired up over the money it feels it is owed for providing fire services to the county.
The Municipality Fire Authority, which is made up of officials from different cities, met with Alachua County commissioners Monday night to negotiate a new payment plan.
Alachua County has relied on smaller cities, including Newberry, High Springs, La Crosse, Hawthorne, Waldo and Micanopy, to answer phone calls for fire services from unincorporated areas of the county.
The city fire departments are closer than county fire stations to the citizens who reside in the unincorporated areas, which are areas in the county outside of any city limits.
However, officials from those smaller cities are threatening to stop answering phone calls outside of their district if the county will not reimburse them for expenses including diesel fuel, equipment and manpower.
High Springs Mayor Larry Travis, who is a fire authority member, said the smaller cities are unfairly burdened with handling fires in their own districts as well as other areas. It is expensive and puts citizens in danger, Travis said.
County Commissioner Mike Byerly said he thinks similar budgetary issues are happening all over Florida and will only increase within the next year.
Members of the Municipality Fire Authority had originally proposed that the county double their compensation to $1.4 million.
Byerly said the cities are currently compensated about $716,000.
At the meeting, which was held at the County Commissioners Office and lasted more than four hours, officials argued over whether $1.4 million is a legitimate payment, and if not, how they should calculate an amount that would be fair to both the fire authority and the county.
County commissioners and fire authority officials agreed to examine three different ways to calculate reimbursements paid to a fire station that handles a call outside of its designated area in Alachua County.
One of the formulas already exists and is used by FEMA, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The second is a formula created by the fire authority that includes charges for equipment and personnel. The third formula is used by Gainesville.
