For Bonita Chief Phil Kinsey, it’s also been a job putting out budget fires

For most of his career at Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue, longtime firefighter and current district chief Phil Kinsey never had to worry about property values, budgets or millage rates. For that matter, few in the district did. As Bonita Springs grew, the fire department got richer. And Bonita Springs never seemed to stop growing. The district tax base is now 186 times larger than it was 30 years ago. “It was pretty dramatic growth,” Kinsey said in a recent interview. “Of course in the last year since I’ve taken over, there’s been certainly a lot of changes legislatively and economically.” That is to say, the good times may have finally ended. A shrinking tax base and a tax-weary public are now forcing the district not only to spend more cautiously, but to cut into its own budget like never before. Greg DeWitt,... [read full story]