The new boat will address what Chief Hugh Bruder calls a ‘staggering’ number of water rescue calls. Photo provided
By Jane Musgrave
When you think about firefighters and water, forget hoses. Instead, think boats.
Boynton Beach Fire Rescue is expanding its land-based operations and moving to the water with the purchase of a $400,000, 28-foot fire boat and the construction of a $250,000 dock it will share with the city’s Police Department.
The city also plans to spend $1.8 million to renovate a 1950s-era building in Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park to create a 24-hour-a-day marine headquarters where three firefighters will be stationed, Fire Chief Hugh Bruder said.
Although several fire rescue agencies, including Palm Beach County, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, have boats, Bruder said the idea of a marine unit was initially viewed with suspicion.
“When I started the bandwagon four years ago everyone looked at me like I was from another planet,” he told the City Commission in July as he explained why he will need $37.3 million to run the department in the year beginning Oct. 1. That is a 16.6% jump from this year.
Calls for service justify the expense of the marine unit, Bruder said.
“The number of water rescue calls are staggering,” he said.
The agency receives an average of one water rescue-related call a day — up 50% from four years ago.
Bruder recalled the day in June when ocean rescue crews and firefighters were summoned to help other agencies find an 8-year-old boy who fell off the south jetty at the Boynton Inlet while fishing with his father.
Within an hour, rescuers realized that there was little chance of finding the West Palm Beach boy alive. Even though firefighters aren’t typically involved in recovery operations, they stayed until the body of Saul Cerrato-Vasquez was found, Bruder said.
“We stayed to give the family closure and we stayed because it was the right thing to do,” he said.
To offset the increased costs of running the department, Bruder said he is beginning to renegotiate contracts with municipalities that receive fire service from Boynton Beach. Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes are among them.
Costs to municipalities will increase, Bruder said. For instance, under a proposed 10-year contract with the Village of Golf, the village would pay 10% more the first year, putting an extra $30,000 in Boynton Beach’s coffers, then have annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, Bruder said.
Ocean Ridge Town Manager Lynne Ladner said the town will pay nearly $1.6 million next year to Boynton Beach for fire protection. While the contract doesn’t expire until Oct. 1, 2028, it is up for a 4-year review this month.
She said she hadn’t been contacted by Boynton Beach officials about renegotiating the contract.
Under the existing agreement, the cost to Ocean Ridge increases about 4% each year, she said.
Bruder said he is also working to improve the department’s rating from the Insurance Services Office. An upgrade would decrease insurance rates for homeowners, including those who live in municipalities that contract with Boynton Beach for service.
The department wasn’t able to get a Class 1 rating in 2017, largely because of water pressure problems, Bruder said. He voiced confidence the agency would get the top rating when it is reinspected in 2025.
The fire boat is to arrive in August 2025. What is being called the “public safety dock” is to be completed in March. A grant is covering half of the construction costs with the city kicking in the rest.
Money for the renovation of the city building the U.S. Coast Guard was using in Harvey Oyer Park is to be generated by increasing the annual fire assessment from $120 to $145.
The flat fee, separate from property taxes, is paid only by Boynton Beach residents and business owners.
The increased assessment would generate $1.46 million annually. That money would be used to repay a $13.1 million, 15-year bond. The loan would also pay for other projects, including the estimated $10 million replacement of a 40-year-old fire station on Congress Avenue and Miner Road.
City commissioners tentatively approved the fee hike. But, Commissioner Angela Cruz said she may ask that it be trimmed to $140 during budget hearings in September.
Commissioner Thomas Turkin said he wants it to be reduced once the loan has been repaid.
Overall, Cruz said, the proposed tax rate of $7.80 for each $1,000 of taxable value, down from a rate of $7.85 per $1,000 this year, represents the biggest tax rate cut the city has had in years. However, because property values in the city increased 8.7% overall, the city will rake in nearly $4 million more in property taxes.
As proposed, the city will spend $130 million next year, a 9.4% increase over this year.
The tax rate, if approved, would find the owner of a home assessed at $400,000 after exemptions paying $3,120 for city services next year, not including the fire assessment.
Corrections: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect date for when the city's new fire boat will arrive. It is expected to arrive in August 2025. It also misstated when the department was last ISO inspected -- it was in 2017 -- and the terms of the contract with the Village of Golf (after a 10% increase the first year, future year cost increases are connected to the Consumer Price Index).
Comments