TAMPA, Fla. — In Tampa, you'd likely be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't see the importance of firefighters and fire stations.
But as the community mulls over Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's proposed budget for 2024, there's now debate over whether the city needs more of the latter right now.
Monday, Tampa Firefighters Local 754 President Nick Stocco made his opinion loud and clear.
"If we do not put a station in this budget, a station in this budget or [a] couple stations, we're going to further move ourselves behind," he said. "We need one in Channelside, one near Station 13 in District 7, and then another one up in the north end in District 7 by K-Bar Ranch."
And Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera agrees.
"We all know that we need them because there have been discussions, some of them for 10 or more years. We all know that we need them. The numbers bear it out the past budgetary investments in these areas that seem to have been, that seem to be slightly abandoned bear that out," he said.
But Mayor Castor doesn't fully see it that way, at least for this upcoming budget. Her current proposal includes funding to help hire more firefighters, fix up existing firehouses, and beef up technology, among other things.
However, it doesn't include a budget for new fire stations. So we asked her about it on Tuesday.
"That continues to come up. We do not need a new fire station at this point," said Castor, "That doesn't mean that we aren't planning for the future. We're looking at potential land for [a] fire station in the downtown area as well as one in the New Tampa area."
But for Councilman Viera adding new stations as a part of this budget is critical—especially since the current budget includes a millage rate increase of one.
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"In my opinion, fire stations are one of the many core critical needs, the mayor has identified a number of core critical needs, and we all applaud that, [but] we need to take a look at fire stations," said Viera.
At this point, Viera said he will support some form of a millage increase, but not one as high as the current proposal.
And Tuesday, Mayor Castor expanded on why she's asking for that rate hike.
"I know it's difficult for some, but we need to make these bold decisions now so that we can continue to successfully grow in the city of Tampa," she said.
The Tampa City Council will have its first budget reading on September 5 and a second reading on September 19.
