Help Me Stop Runaway, Unnecessary Tax Increases

There was a .5 Mil increase in your taxes for Greater Naples Fire District passed during the primary election. There was low voter turnout, and the Fire Department effort to turnout their voters worked. Instead of 1.5 Mil tax rate, the tax rate can now be 2.0 Mil. a potential 33% increase in the taxes you pay, plus the additional amount you pay because your property values have increased.

Why Vote for Russell Tuff

Tuff’s opponent is an honorable man, that has spent a lifetime in the fire service. We are provided the best service money can buy.

The issue is 85% of the calls for service are not fire related. We send a $1.5 M ladder truck staffed with a three-man team to help a senior citizen off the floor in a nursing home. In addition, an EMS truck will show up soon and we also pay for that truck and two more personnel through the County EMS service. That’s A Lot of Money

What Can We Do?

By coordinating with and merging services with Fire and EMS, more often than not, we can dispatch one vehicle with two personnel, versus two vehicles with 5 personnel.

• Support Our Personnel: Ensure that emergency personnel are well-compensated and can afford to live within the communities they serve.
• Optimize Response Protocols: Avoid dispatching multiple emergency vehicles for single incidents unless absolutely necessary.
• Prioritize Emergency Vehicle Use: Allocate the appropriate resources for each call. For instance, a costly fire truck with a full crew should not be sent for non-emergency tasks such as assisting a senior citizen who has fallen.
• Collaborate with Other Agencies: Combine efforts with other emergency service agencies in areas like maintenance, purchasing, and human resources to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
• Consolidate Emergency Services: I will work towards consolidating services to eliminate redundancy and enhance coordination among agencies.

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How Did We Get Here – and What’s Next

If you were to receive a 16% revenue increase from the year 2023 to the year 2024, you would probably feel that is a healthy increase to continue properly investing in your business and maintaining growth in a positive manner. That increase is on top of a 19% increase the prior year. This next year will see another projected increase of over 11%.

Those revenue increases haven’t been enough under the current commissioners for the Greater Naples Fire and Rescue District as through referendum received an additional .5 Mil optional increase for fiscal year 2026 for eight years. The Department wants to continue to deliver services using systems and a mindset that continues seeing itself as it did 10 to 20 years ago.

We have a Fire District that is now a $55+ million operation and running it like they did 2016 when it was a $20 million operation.

It is time to revisit how we deliver emergency services in Collier County. See the operating revenues below: