It was the first meeting of the citizen advisory board to the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District. Its mission, according to Fire Chief Adams and the board of commissioners, was to “educate the people of Lehigh” about the need for an assessment fee to keep the fire department open.

The group met Friday, June 3 and within minutes, Steve Baker announced he was resigning from the board calling the discussion about an assessment fee nothing but “a scare tactic” to get people in Lehigh to raise their taxes.

Not long after Baker’s walkout, another board member, visibly upset because the fire chief had not called on him to speak after claiming he had his hand up for some time, said the chief was not professional and he walked out of the meeting, too.

Over and over again, Fire Chief Don Adams said the assessment fee shouldn’t be called a tax, but board members said the fee was a tax.

There was spirited debate and nothing was accomplished at the meeting except the election of Cathy Kruse, the mother of a firefighter, to be its chairman. The group agreed to abide by Robert’s Rules of Order at its meetings.

With Baker and LaRosa gone, all that were left were Robert Anderson Frank Lohlein, Hartmut “Harry” Kloppert, Cathy Kruse, Ralph B. Hemingway and John Boardman.

If Chief Don Adams thought he had a group of people who were going to “educate” the people of Lehigh that an assessment fee is needed in addition to the already imposed tax of 3 mills, he was in for a shock.

Discussions by those on the board aired their own differences against the assessment fee and over and over called it a tax increase.

Lohlein told the chief and the group that “surveys” he had conducted showed that Lehigh residents would not vote to tax themselves.

“It will never happen,” he said.

Lohlein noted that many in the fire department make $100,000 in salaries and benefits while the average worker in Lehigh who has a job makes about $21,000.

“I’m not voting for assessment fees. I can see another way to help. We need to go to our legislators and change the law in way we are taxed. We have to start there,” said Robert Anderson, one of the remaining board members.

In a packet passed out to the advisory board, Chief Adams said, “our lives are being governed to do more with less and that raising property taxes above $3 per thousand of assessed valuation is not the right thing to do.”

He said an advisory board is a way for the fire district “to engage citizens in the democratic process of reviewing the need for a fire assessment fee.

He called the board’s primary purpose to be to provide “judicious advice from a citizen’s perspective to help plan the future of their fire service by the stabilization of revenue that supports both fire and emergency medical services.“

The meeting came a day following an announcement by Ken Wilkinson, the county’s property appraiser, that land values were again decreasing in Lee County. When the value of property goes down, so will what people have to pay in taxes and the income to support the fire department, will be even less next year.

If the budget is not stabilized, the chief may have to close three fire stations and lay off a large number of firefighters. Next August is when the federal funds from the SAFER grant run out and there is no guarantee that Lehigh will be chosen again to receive funds.

As tempers heated, LaRosa said, “To be honest with you, if you’re going to run a meeting – be professional. Somebody holds their hand up, respect them chief. You didn’t do that,”

Adams said that even with property values decreasing and with less revenue coming it, the fire district is still running the same business as it was when property values were high in Lehigh Acres.

“Property values decreased, less revenue coming in and we’re still running the same business when property values were high,” Chief Adams said.

Anderson blamed the financial problems on the fire chief and the commissioners.

Chief Adams said that if the department returns to what it was like in 2004 and 2005, there will be about 60 firefighters.

“We’ve done everything possible to reduce the overhead, so to speak, or our costs,” Chief Adams said.

Some on the advisory board said firefighters should take a cut in their pay.

Anderson reminded everyone that the people who have to pay the taxes have to live within their means, so why not the fire department, he asked.

Advisory Board Chairman Kruse set the next meeting for June 22 at 4 p.m. at the Veterans Park Community Center.

The findings of the board will be given to the five fire commissioners who are not required to accept them.