Tampa City Council considers $115M bond plan to fund new fire station, renovate 3 as city grows

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa City Council members agreed Thursday to postpone voting on a proposal to bond $115 million in funding that would upgrade three of its aging fire stations and add another fire house. 

The funds would allow the city to purchase land in North Tampa, likely along Fowler Avenue, to construct Fire Station 24. Fire Stations 6, 9, and 10 would receive money for significant repairs or to be replaced.

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"This takes three additional fire stations and refurbishes or replaces them depending on what's going on with the fire station," said Councilman Luis Viera, who proposed the funding plan.

Council member Lynn Hurtak voiced concerns about the long-term implications of this type of funding, which would include an additional $98 million in interest payments, pushing the total cost over $200 million. Viera, hoping for a unanimous vote, proposed delaying a vote until Jan. 25.

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Nick Stocco, President of the Tampa Firefighters Union 754, hopes the funding eventually passes.

"Seventy percent of our fire stations are currently past their life expectancy," Stocco told FOX 13. "It's all about health and safety of the firefighters, but also being able to provide a better service to the community."

For years, Tampa Fire Rescue Chief Barbara Tripp has been sounding the alarm on the need to upgrade decades-old facilities and add additional resources in order to meet the city’s modern population needs.

"The city’s fire department was built back in the 50s and early 1900s," said Tripp at a community meeting in October. "We have not added additional resources that we need to make those stations adequate."

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Tampa Firefighters Union 754 says the city needs to add at least three new stations: in North Tampa, the Westshore/Gandy area, and an additional station downtown, in order to reduce call times and adequately respond to areas of rapid population growth within the city. 

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Fire Station 1, for instance, was built in 1978 to respond to emergencies in downtown Tampa. Tampa Firefighters Union president Nick Stocco says despite the city’s building boom in Channelside and the Water Street district, the same unit of 10–12 firefighters working from Station 1 oversee all of downtown, Davis Island, and Harbor Island.

"In 1978, I would have felt protected today but as we see, the city has quadrupled in size and even doubled in size since 2019," said Stocco. 

File: Tampa firefighters

"Seventy percent of our fire stations are currently past their life expectancy," Stocco told FOX 13. "It's all about health and safety of the firefighters, but also being able to provide a better service to the community."

READ: Hillsborough County to rebuild 3 outdated fire stations with $18 million from American Rescue Plan

In September, council members voted down a millage rate increase that could have contributed to the costs of building a new fire station, upgrading aging facilities, and purchasing new equipment.

"These are things that are necessities. These are not wants. And so that's why we're moving forward with these," said Vieria. "We are a growing city, and we have to make sure that we have our fire safety needs met here in the city."

The council did, however, sign off on a new contract between the city and firefighters that will increase their pay. Stocco hopes that, along with the potential plan to repair and replace aging fire stations, will help the department fill nearly 50 openings.