Chief Steve Kona: “We won’t make it to the end of this year.”
Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: Jan. 24, 2025
Host: It was not what many in the community—and two men on the dais—wanted: This week, the Sarasota County Commission voted for what looks pretty much like the beginning of the end for the last volunteer fire district in the county. Ramon Lopez reports.
Ramon Lopez: Sarasota County Commissioners voted Tuesday to let the Sarasota County Fire Department expand its reach into the Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department’s current coverage area.
The crowd at Tuesday’s commission meeting. Photo by Ramon Lopez
This, despite local residents’ unanimous urging to either reject the scheme outright, or at least delay a final decision so a compromise might be reached.
Nokomis resident and restaurateur Mary Beth Hanson:
Mary Beth Hanson: Our department operates without being a financial burden to the county. Through community donations, we provide top-tier services by reducing cost to the taxpayers. Should the department close, the community will face longer emergency response times—lives and property will be at risk as residents wait for services from further away; higher long-term cost—transitioning to a county-run service will significantly increase operational expenses including salaries, equipment and maintenance; as well as loss of community safety. To close the Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department would be putting the safety of the area in jeopardy and lives at risk.
RL: We next hear from Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Kona, who sought a compromise deal.
Steve Kona: We do want to work something out with the county. I think there’s room to work something out. My issue was how soon this has come to be and the time that it’s going to take to do this right. I am willing, and Chief Rathbun is willing, to sit down. I just think we need time. What I’ve mentioned over the last few meetings is, “Let’s put the breaks on this.” We’ve had a good working relationship. One more year is not going to affect anything, and I think, in that year, we can come up with a working, agreeable solution.
RL: Newly elected County Commissioner Tom Knight, in opposing the county fire department’s move, had also hoped for a compromise.
County Commissioner Tom Knight. Photo by Ramon Lopez
Tom Knight: You control the destiny of this. Not five of us. I’m asking you to work with them and give us a plan for three years—two years—one year—whatever it is—when you know there’s time—so we don’t have to put the community through this emotion again and the five of us have to make a decision. That’s just the way I see it. I can’t speak for my peers.
RL: Chairman Joe Neunder also voted nay.
Joe Neunder: Today, I don’t feel like this particular issue to vote on, which is meaningful, has met that criteria for me. The findings of fact in order to get an approval on any level, whether it’s something like this, a land use issue, or a change in ordinance, is very high in my opinion. For me and in my mind, where this stands here today, it hasn’t met the level or the criteria or the findings of fact in order for me to support this at this time. I feel like there’s too much unsaid.
RL: But Commissioners Teresa Mast, Mark Smith and Ron Cutsinger sided with the county fire department.
The 3-2 vote means the end of the volunteer fire service after 75 years of steady service, according to Chief Kona. The proposal to reduce the responsibility of the NVFD’s coverage was controversial, to say the least.
County Fire Department Chief David Rathbun said the changeover would enhance service and provide equity that’s absent today.
Sarasota County Fire Department Chief David Rathbun and another county fire department employee. Photo by Ramon Lopez
Homeowners in the Nokomis area subsidize operations of the NVFD through $100 annual donations but don’t pay for coverage the county provides under the mutual aid agreement.
Sarasota County Emergency Services Director Richard Collins said it is only fair for those residents to pay the same fire fees as everybody else. Nokomis area homeowners will now pay for county fire service with an estimated $250 increase in their property taxes. Meanwhile, Rathburn says the move will better accommodate growth in the county.
The switchover will take place in October. Kona says his firefighting coverage area will now shrink from 16 square miles to only five or six. He will lose access to a county fire station and—more important—half of his current funding.
Kona believes he will be forced financially to shut down his reduced operations before year-end, versus in five years as envisioned by Rathbun. And he says a life-saving compromise is not in the cards.
NVFD Chief Steve Kona. Photo by Ramon Lopez
SK: We will not survive, I can tell you that now, with about 60% of our revenue gone. With the cost of running a fire department, we will not be able to continue unless we get a source of revenue from somewhere else. I can tell you that we won’t make it to the end of this year. With this vote, it almost ends any future talks as far as how we can work together and continue past that date of October 2025. Now, I’m always open to communication, and I plan to. I’m going to be very professional with him.
I think it was a plan on their part, and I think we could have come up with something that would have been much better for Sarasota County than this. I think they probably felt like the three of those commissioners were going to vote on their side anyway, so they decided to move forward.
RL: 12 million Floridians depend on volunteer firefighters, with more than 200 departments throughout Florida utilizing volunteers to sustain operations. There are about 676,000 volunteer firefighters nationwide. 70% of all firefighters in the USA are volunteers, a long-standing tradition; Ben Franklin served as America’s first volunteer fire chief.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.