DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — The Tallahassee Fire Department’s five-year strategic plan is accepted, but commissioners made time to respond to comments made during the county’s workshop on fire services — which pointed to possible mismanagement of the fire service fund.
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City leaders reject county’s fire fund shortfall report as Tallahassee approves 5-year fire department plan
Tensions over the fire services debate boiled over Wednesday after comments made at Leon County’s workshop on fire services.
“The entitlement, entitlement, the obstinance, the insolence coming from the city is so outrageous. It is a direct insult to the citizens of the entire county, all 300,000 people,” County Commissioner Brian Welch said.
“This is because of Mayor John Dailey. This is because he got his feelings hurt because the fire union didn’t endorse him. That’s purely what this is about … And it’s frustrating because how we got here was by us just advocating for all residents, city residents and county residents,” County Chair Christian Caban said.
City leaders pushed back at the meeting while discussing the Tallahassee Fire Department’s five-year strategic plan, describing the comments as misinformation.
“I’m not spending any more time on this junk that’s coming out of the county, and I am disappointed in the behavior of certain county commissioners including the chairman for gaslighting this community on false narratives,” Mayor John Dailey said.
“We are the most efficiently run. We audit our program on an annual basis. We have got nationally recognized talent that is truly certified in finances specifically to the fire service fee and how we run our department. And we got a report that came out literally leading county commissioners to thinking that there is illegal activity going on in city hall,” Dailey said.
It all stems from the Benesch report — recently released by Leon County — which found a revenue shortfall between $15 million and $21 million in the fund in FY 2024 and FY 2025, attributing the loss to missing and inconsistent billing of government buildings, Leon County schools and residents.
But the city’s resource management director says there’s no lost revenue, saying the firm’s math and methodology were flawed.
“Benesch ignores actuals or doesn’t mention in the report the fiscal year 26 rate adjustment keeps fire services at full cost recovery based on revised costs for city residents. We support the firefighter contracts, the staffing needs and the fire station 17 construction,” Resource Management Director Robert Wigen said.
Commissioner Curtis Richardson questioned the firm’s credibility.
“Who the hell is Benesch? Who in the hell is that to bring information like that to the county commission? No cooperation with staff or consulting with our staff to get this same information that’s available to anyone in the public,” Richardson said.
According to Benesch, the report was created with data provided from City of Tallahassee public records requests, Leon County, joint city and county GIS staff and other public records.
It noted that it wasn’t an official audit of the city’s records and stated they weren’t an accounting firm.
The county’s attorney said Tuesday they sent the report over to the city before its release but didn’t get a response back.
“There have been attempts over the last year and a half to engage the city on some of the concerns the county had and work with them to validate or have them provide some sort of explanation for why some of the findings wouldn’t be accurate, and the city was not interested in engaging in that process,” County Attorney Chasity O’Steen said.
Stanley Sims — the only public speaker on the item — says the focus of fire services should be on public safety, not games.
“People’s lives are on the line, not your ego. Let’s stop the games. I hope November 3rd brings us some adults, and the children will leave the room,” Sims said.
Commissioner Jack Porter wanted to take another path — suggesting that the city’s inspector general come back with an item to structure an independent audit of the fire service funds.
“If the city has done nothing wrong, let’s prove it,” Porter said.
The discussion ended with the acceptance of the strategic plan. Some commissioners are also pushing for the information shared about the fire services during this meeting to be released to the public.
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