Hernando commissioners keep fire assessment flat after tense debate

Inside the Hernando County Government Center, commissioners froze the county fire assessment after a tense challenge from Steve Champion to Fire Chief Paul Hasenmeier over who should pay for fire protection and emergency response. The 4-0 vote on June 9 kept the Municipal Services Benefit Unit fee flat, but it did not settle the larger fight over rising costs, household affordability and the county’s next budget tradeoffs.

The MSBU is the county’s special assessment mechanism for services and improvements, and Hernando says the fire-rescue assessment is a non-ad valorem charge on properties within the district boundaries. County materials say 98.5% of fire MSBU funding comes from the assessment, which helps support a department that is staffed 24 hours a day and expected to keep equipment ready for immediate response. With the City of Brooksville now folded into the county fire system after its department was absorbed in October 2025, the policy now reaches far beyond unincorporated neighborhoods.

That broader footprint raises the stakes for homeowners. The county’s proposed FY 2026 fire MSBU notice estimated $39,847,404.86 in revenue at 95% collection and said every parcel is charged a base fee under Florida Statute 125.01(1)(r). The same notice said annual increases could not exceed 7% in FY 2027 and each year after that unless the county sent another mailed notice. Hernando’s public safety budget for Fire and Emergency Services also climbed to $110,943,565 in 2025-26, up from $105,773,376 the year before.

Champion said the fee had tripled between 2019 and 2027, and his criticism echoed a longer argument that has been building since at least May 2024, when commissioners pushed back on a new recommendation and asked for population growth data, added dwelling units and fire assessment figures dating to 2016. In 2025, commissioners already approved a 5.75% Fire Rescue MSBU increase for single-family properties for FY 2026 after Hasenmeier originally sought 7%, saying the lower rate was needed to keep service levels stable and the budget stabilized. That same year, the rate for unimproved parcels jumped to $86.91 from $19.36 after a methodology change.

Brooksville’s consolidation agreement with the county, approved in September 2025, set the city to pay $1,478,341.89 in 12 monthly installments for FY 2026, with county assessments to be collected directly from Brooksville property owners beginning in FY 2027. The city’s existing pension obligations remain with Brooksville, while new personnel join the Florida Retirement System.

For now, the flat vote gave taxpayers short-term relief. It also left untouched the harder question: whether Hernando County can keep expanding or even maintaining fire rescue service without another round of politically costly increases.