ORLANDO, Fla. — The Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board is moving forward with two key plans leading to future changes.

The board voted on several issues Tuesday morning, including approving the collective bargaining agreement for the salaries of front line fire personnel and cuts to the property tax rate in the district.

The deal with first responders includes pay raises, more staff and higher starting pay.

Aron Colburn, The First Vice President of the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighter Association, is happy they settled on the agreement, as bargaining started five years ago under the old board. He hopes this will help make them competitive and help bring on new staff.

"When we can't recruit and retain new talent you end up having to work overtime whether you want to or not, it's called mandatory overtime and there has been a huge rash of mandatory overtime in the last few years," said Colburn. "So it can lead to burnout and dangerous situations driving on the road. We have a limit of 48 hours that you can work total but when you are working multiple 48-hour shifts in a row in a week it can lead to some sketchy situations,"

The board also unanimously approved moving forward with next year's budget, which includes a nearly 7% cut to the current millage rate without impacting what board members called “core” programs.

They said this is possible due to eliminating what they called government waste and abuse.

Taxpayer dollars will no longer be used to fund the private use of the police force on Disney property.

The meeting was just the start of the board's discussion of next year's budget.

They plan to have more meetings and public listening sessions before voting on the final budget and millage rate on September 27.