BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Brevard County property owners could be asked to help pay firefighters better.
Raising fire assessment fees has been tried a couple of times over the last decade in Brevard, but some heroes still make about the same amount of money as fast food workers.
News 6 has been reporting since last summer that starting pay at Brevard County Fire Rescue can be as little as $15 per hour.
After months of organizing protests over low pay, firefighters returned to the government center in Viera on Tuesday to hear county commissioners advance raising the fire assessment again.
Watch the video to learn how much the increase could cost property owners.
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Commissioner Katie Delaney called for the highest rate increase on the table.
“I think that people are willing to pay for these services,” Delaney said.
Other commissioners, like Kim Adkinson, said no to a 75% (or even a 50%) rate increase, so the commission settled on advancing a 37% fire assessment rate change.
“It’s gonna affect you when you deal with every business that your life touches,” Adkinson said about the highest option on the table. “Every single business, whether it’s the daycare, it’s the restaurant, it’s where you buy your groceries.”
Supporters said a 75% rate increase would be an extra $21 each month from average-sized households (about 2,000 square feet).
“We respect the people who are like, this is gonna hurt or affect me in this direction, but I represent public safety, which is an essential function of government,” firefighter Mike Bramson told News 6 reporter James Sparvero.
Bramson is the president of the firefighters’ union that’s been working to negotiate a new contract with the county for more than a year.
More than 100 firefighters have left the county during that time.
One firefighter who addressed commissioners on Tuesday said he gets paid so little that he qualifies for government cheese and milk.
“That means that I get free cheese and milk and that kinda stuff to make my family go,” Fire Lt. Kenny Appling said.
Bramson said Appling’s situation isn’t uncommon in the department.
“People who have big families, we get into a lot of those issues,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot more people than could ever been projected.”
Commissioners also advanced putting $3 million into fire rescue’s budget by defunding the North Brevard Economic Development Zone.
The special district was created after the retirement of the space shuttle to boost the economy in Titusville and other northern areas of the county.
A final commission vote on the fire assessment rate increase is scheduled for May 20.
