HB 1553

1
A bill to be entitled
2An act relating to the North Okaloosa Fire District,
3Okaloosa County; amending chapter 2001-333, Laws of
4Florida, as amended; authorizing the elected board of
5commissioners to collect certain user charges and assess
6certain impact fees; providing a definition; providing an
7effective date.
8
9Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11     Section 1.  Subsections (3) and (4) are added to section 6
12of section 2 of chapter 2001-333, Laws of Florida, as amended by
13chapter 2007-311, Laws of Florida, to read:
14     Section 6.  Financial matters.--
15     (3)  USER CHARGES.--The elected board of commissioners may
16provide a reasonable schedule of charges for:
17     (a)  Special emergency services, including firefighting
18occurring in or to structures outside the district, motor
19vehicles, marine vessels, aircraft, or rail cars, or as a result
20of the operation of such motor vehicles or marine vessels, to
21which the district is called to render such emergency services,
22and may charge a fee for the services rendered in accordance
23with the schedule.
24     (b)  Fighting fires occurring in or at refuse dumps or as a
25result of an illegal burn, which fire, dump, or burn is not
26authorized by general or special law, rule, regulation, order,
27or ordinance and which the district is called upon to fight or
28extinguish.
29     (c)  Responding to, assisting in, or mitigating emergencies
30to which the district has been called that threaten or could
31threaten the health and safety of persons, property, or the
32environment, including a charge for responding to false alarms.
33     (d)  Inspecting structures, plans, and equipment to
34determine compliance with firesafety codes and standards.
35
36The district shall have a lien upon any real property, motor
37vehicle, marine vessel, aircraft, or rail car for any charge
38assessed under this subsection.
39     (4)  IMPACT FEES.--
40     (a)  Because the general purpose local government has not
41adopted an impact fee for fire services which is distributed to
42the district for construction within its jurisdictional
43boundaries, the Legislature hereby authorizes the North Okaloosa
44Fire District's elected board of commissioners to establish a
45schedule of impact fees in compliance with any standards set by
46general law for new construction in order to pay for the cost of
47new facilities and equipment the need for which is in whole or
48in part the result of new construction.
49     (b)  The impact fees collected by the district under this
50subsection shall be kept separate from other revenues of the
51district and must be used exclusively to acquire, purchase, or
52construct new facilities or portions thereof needed to provide
53fire protection and emergency services to new construction. As
54used in this subsection, "new facilities" means land, buildings,
55and capital equipment, including, but not limited to, fire and
56emergency vehicles, radio telemetry equipment, and other
57firefighting or rescue equipment.
58     (c)  The board shall maintain adequate records to ensure
59that impact fees are expended only for permissible new
60facilities or equipment.
61     (d)  The board may enter into agreements with general
62purpose local governments to share in the revenues from fire
63protection impact fees imposed by such governments.
64     Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.