Fire funding

Some of the other local news sources have reported lately on various Kissimmee fire department units being idled due to staff shortages and training events.

Now that a decent percentage of the fire department's operating budget is funded by a fire fee, rather than property tax collections, we wonder if it is still valid to argue that cutbacks had to be made "because of what Tallahassee did to us."

At the same time, we know that negotiations are ongoing between the city and the firefighters' union, and whenever public safety staff negotiations are underway, regardless of where you live, information like this tends to be reported more frequently.

We call on both sides to bring forth some meaningful trend data, not just single daily statistics, and let the citizens decide if they are receiving the public safety protection they are paying for.