TAMPA, Fla. — As Hillsborough County's population continues to grow, first responders are being met with an overwhelming call volume. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue says the department is about a dozen stations short of where they need to be in order to respond to calls as quickly as possible. 

What You Need To Know

  • Hillsborough County's updated fire safety master plan calls for 28 new stations to be built in the coming years to meet the county's growth

  • County commissioners are trying to come up with a way to fund fire service expansion and road improvement projects
  • The board has until September to finalize the budget for next year

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones said between 2006 to 2018, there were no new fire stations built in the unincorporated areas of the county. There have been a handful built since then, but the county’s updated fire safety master plan calls for 28 new stations to be built in the coming years to match the growing population.

The number of calls for service jumped 17% between 2020 and 2021 and has been steadily increasing since then, according to Chief Jones. Fire Rescue aims to have an eight-minute response time, but Jones said that becomes hard to meet if firefighters have to drive a far distance.

“Eight minutes is that time - and that’s a four-minute drive time,” Jones said. “So, I really need to be pretty close to your home or place of business in order to make that response time and we just can’t do it with the current distribution of fire stations.”

Jones said there are not enough stations in the south and east parts of the county, around Riverview, Sun City and Wimauma. 

To help fund more stations, county commissioners floated around the idea of raising property tax rates for residents in the unincorporated areas. On Thursday, the board ultimately chose not to do that for the coming year. 

Commissioner Pat Kemp backed the idea of raising the millage rate and believes it’s the only solution to fund fire services and road projects.

“It’s been something we have needed for a long time and it is just not being done,” Kemp said. “Unincorporated Hillsborough County is far behind in funding the infrastructure in unincorporated Hillsborough County. We have just not kept up.”

Commissioner Michael Owen said public safety and road improvements are the top priorities for the board, but he did not support the idea of raising the millage rate.

“It would not be a dedicated funding source,” Owen said. “That’s what we need for public safety and our firefighters — we need a dedicated source of funding. A millage rate, sure, we could use it this year for public safety but then ongoing - the next year or the year after - they could not use it for public safety.”

The board has until September to finalize next year’s budget. The county administrator is looking at other possibilities, including creating a tax specifically for public safety and transportation, but those plans are still in the early planning process.

Chief Jones said he is still hopeful the board can find a stable way to fund the expansion of fire services. 

“A county this size with the county’s growth has a lot of needs,” Jones said. “Transportation, roadways, parks, affordable housing - there’s so many needs in the county. But we also want to make sure that they understand that public safety is still a need. Whatever it takes, we’ve got to find a way to have a stable fund that is reoccurring that we’ll be able to build these stations that we need over the next several years.”