The 10-year plan
What the Plan Really Costs
The City's own 5-year and 10-year fire department plan calls for a $935,000 fire engine, a $1,850,000 ladder truck, up to $1,400,000 in station repairs, a $5,000,000 new fire station, and more personnel. The plan assumes the big purchases are financed. Borrowed money has to be paid back with interest, and that interest lands on you.
What the borrowing costs, on top of the price
| Purchase | Borrowed | Term | Payment per year | Interest cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire engine (R405) | $935,000 | 15-year note | $94,680.72 | about $485,000 |
| Ladder truck | $1,850,000 | 15-year note | $187,336.20 | about $960,000 |
| New fire station | $5,000,000 | 30-year note | $286,449.00 | about $3,593,000 |
Interest alone: about $5 million on $7.8 million borrowed. Taxpayers would repay about $12.8 million for the two trucks and the station.
From 2031 to 2041 all three notes run at once: about $568,000 a year in loan payments, more than half of the $1,030,601 this tax collects today. And the City's worksheet keeps going: two more engine notes starting in 2038 and 2040, a second station note in 2042, and added personnel costs that grow past $800,000 a year. In total, Option C projects about $143 million in fire service costs from 2027 through 2050.
Loan payments are the City's own projections, from the financing worksheet behind the assessment study (Option C, which covers the entire cost of fire services). The engine note starts next year; the ladder truck and south station notes start in 2031.
Payroll grows every year, too
Our firefighters earn their pay. That is not the question. The question is what the whole package costs, and how fast it grows. With retirement, health insurance, and payroll taxes, every dollar of pay costs taxpayers about a dollar sixty. The plan adds more firefighters and a raise every year. Costs like these never go back down. Each year starts higher than the last.
Payroll alone already costs about $1.6 million a year. This tax brings in about $1 million. It starts behind on day one, and the plan only adds more spending. More taxes and more spending.
And even then, crews come up short
The plan grows the department from 16 firefighters to 20. Spread across three shifts and two stations, that puts about three firefighters per station on duty. The national standard (NFPA 1710) calls for four. The difference matters at a real fire: safety rules require four firefighters on scene, two inside and two out, before a crew can enter a burning building. A three-person crew has to wait for the next unit to arrive before going in. Those minutes are precious.
So after millions in borrowing and years of rate increases, city crews would still be below the staffing standard. Walton County Fire Rescue already runs a larger force with more units.
In their own words
The rates were set at the City Council meeting on July 13, 2026. The video is public. The Council adopted a ceiling of $397 per home (the 100% rate) and started at $238 (60%). Raising the rate toward $397 takes only a yearly rate resolution. No new study, no new process. Here is what was said on the record:
"We don't think that we need to be at 100% this first year, but we also don't want to penalize the city moving forward 5, 10, 20 years down the road... because at some point that cost may have to increase."
"And if you need to go up in the future, right? In future years. That's what gives you the option. ... Every single year there will be a rate resolution adopted."
That is why $238 is the starting rate, not the price. The spending in this plan is built to grow, and the tax that funds it is built to grow with it.
Figures come from the City's published 5-10 Year Fire Department Plan and current municipal bond market rates. See Sources for the plan document and the math. Sources & methodology.