Lake Worth commissioners to consider new fire-rescue deal Tuesday - Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:36 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011
LAKE WORTH — Palm Beach County Fire Rescue is proposing a new contract with Lake Worth that would save city taxpayers $10.1 million but would force the city to pay penalties for ending the agreement.
Under the revised contract that city commissioners will consider Tuesday, the city would no longer be required to pay the annual supplement payment - including the $525,000 balance due for this budget year - that Lake Worth agreed to pay the county annually under the 2009 contract.
The supplement is the amount the city pays in addition to the $3.46 per $1,000 taxable value that Lake Worth property owners pay annually to the county for fire and rescue service.
After seeing the results of a Willdan Homeland Solutions study that showed the cost of reconstituting a city fire department, City Manager Susan Stanton began negotiating a new contract with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Chief Steve Jerauld this summer.
In exchange for eliminating the supplement payments, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue would be assured that Lake Worth would not end the fire/rescue agreement without paying a penalty.
Under the proposed terms, the exit penalty would be $5 million if the city ended the contract during the upcoming budget year and $4.5 million the following year. The exit penalty drops by $500,000 each year of the contract until the 2021, when there would be no penalty for ending the agreement.
City officials say the agreement is fair because Lake Worth is the only municipality that pays a supplement to the county for fire and rescue service in addition to the property tax levy - and because the county's fire/rescue tax has increased since the original contract was approved in April 2009.
If approved by city commissioners Tuesday, the revised fire/rescue contract would have to be approved by Palm Beach County commissioners.
County Commissioner Shelley Vana said she is leaning in favor of supporting the revised fire rescue deal, noting that property values have dropped dramatically and squeezed budgets in cities such as Lake Worth.
19 Sep, 2011--
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