Tampa City Council Votes to Cut Consideration for 3 New Fire Stations
Council votes to cut consideration of 3 fire stations in 5 year Capitol Improvement Project plan.
At Thursday’s Tampa City Council meeting, Council member Luis Viera entered a substitute motion for item 44, a reimbursement resolution that would have allowed the City to bond the debt for the “costs in relation to the acquisition, construction and equipping of various fire stations and facilities.” Specifically fire stations 6, 9, 10, 24 and the relocation of fleet maintenance and supply. Not to exceed $116 million dollars.
The substitute motion requested to remove stations 6, 9, and 10 from the reimbursement resolution and consideration for bonding as well as their projected costs of $76 million.
No corresponding budget change was made, so the assumption is the $5,750,00 in this year’s budget for station 6 will not be moving forward unless another funding source is found.
In the adopted budget for FY24, there is $0 for station 24. The approved 5 year CIP plan has $1,600,000 in FY25 and the bulk of it in FY26 $15,959,000. In the update provided by Chief Tripp, she stated she was optimistic about the land and was hoping to be moving forward with design soon. Which I believe was in FY23 budget and the explanation for $0 this year. What wasn’t suggested was that the timeline was speeding up.
There is $12 million in this year’s budget for fleet/supply. Another $1,272,000 in FY25 and $20,192,000 FY26. Nothing in the update provided by Chief Tripp contradicted that timeline.
This entire plan was fully articulated during the budget process. The reality of the timeline and how fleet/supply was the lynchpin to all of the other stations. How even if Council had wanted to put $50 million in this year’s budget for station 24 it wouldn’t get built any faster. (I’m paraphrasing now.)
There is also $650,000 in FY24 budget for temporary but much needed improvements to fire station 9. That may be coming out of CIT funds but was part of the original $116 million number.
The 5 year Capital Improvement Plan for Tampa Fire Rescue as of Jan 1 2024. All to be funded with non-ad valorem debt. Approved by Tampa City Council with the FY24 budget.
| Fire Station | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | FY 2027 | FY 2028 | Total (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Station 24 | $0 | $1,600,000 | $15,959,000 | $0 | $0 | $17,559,000 |
| Fire Station 6 | $5,750,00 | $1,545,000 | $19,359,288 | $0 | $0 | $26,654,288 |
| Fire Maintenance & Supply | $12,000,000 | $1,272,000 | $20,192,000 | $0 | $0 | $33,464,000 |
| Fire Station 9 | $650,000 | $0 | $1,962,000 | $18,185,000 | $0 | $20,797,000 |
| Fire Station 10 | $0 | $0 | $1,765,800 | $16,386,500 | $0 | $18,152,300 |
| Total Commitment | $20,000,000 | $18,776,000 | $43,279,088 | $34,571,500 | $0 | $116,626,588 |
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website.