Recently, someone took a drubbing for asking the simple question, “What does the Holt Fire Department do with all the money we send them?” Included in the Facebook post was a photo of the fire station.

It seems everyone took offense that the poster implied something negative by his comment and came to the defense of Holt Fire District. For that, we thank everyone who had our back. However, the question still remains: What exactly does HFD do with the money we collect from the community?

First, we don’t pay firefighter salaries with the money. All our firefighting staff are volunteers. Some even have full-time jobs with other fire departments, but voluntarily swing into action on their days off to assist Holt—and the surrounding community—when called.

Second, the building we now use as a fire station is a temporary rented facility because the old community center across the street was infested with rats and were literally eating our fire engines, so we had to move. We thankfully only pay $1,000 a month for the current building we’re using, but that adds up to $12,000 a year, nearly a tenth of our budget right off the top.

While it’s true that we have plans to build a new station, we’re quite a bit away from completing a new facility due to a lack of funding. We’re actively searching for additional funds and are moving forward on that project.

Third, our annual budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 is $127,000. We arrive at a budget figure according to the non-ad valorem fire assessments and fees we expect to collect each year through Okaloosa County, who charges us for their collection of the fire fees. Point of fact: we have the lowest assessment fees of any community in Okaloosa County, and possibly the entire state of Florida. What small amount we do collect keeps HFD trucks running, equips our firefighters to some extent and pays our rent, utilities and insurance, to include workman’s compensation. Insurance alone costs us an estimated $40,000 a year, with more than half of that going toward workman’s comp.

Each year, we have to provide an annual financial audit to the State of Florida. Last year’s audit cost us $7,000 to prepare. That audit is available to anyone who requests it. Additionally, a new state-required five-year performance audit cost us another $25,000 to conduct, money we didn’t have or budget for. This report is also available for anyone who’s interested.

To help augment our budget, we engage in fundraisers such as our annual gun raffle and the three rib sales each year. Last year, we partnered with a photographer who sold portrait packages to interested community folks. Every little bit helps.

Unfortunately, our budget and fundraisers aren’t enough to buy a new fire engine, brush truck or command vehicles. We operate with trucks that have been donated from other Okaloosa County fire departments when they’ve been fortunate enough to be able to replace their equipment. But hand-me-down vehicles require more to maintain, so a chunk of our budget goes to keeping our vehicles ready to go when they’re needed. Besides annual maintenance costs such as pump, hose and ladder testing, emergency response vehicles need tires changed every seven years, so this month, we’ve initiated a program to purchase and change a set of tires for one vehicle every year, an additional maintenance cost.

We’ve pursued a number of grants the past few years and have been successful in equipping our firefighters with safety gear and equipment they need to fight fires, but big-ticket items such as a new fire truck or extraction equipment are not in our budget.

The HFD commissioners work hard at being responsible with the money you send us and we encourage community questions and participation. If you would like to find out more about your fire department, I encourage you to come to our 6:30 p.m. commissioners meeting every second Tuesday of the month. The next meeting is Feb. 13 and the first agenda item is the budget.

By the way, our first rib sale fundraiser of the season is the Friday and Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9 and 10. Let us do the cooking for you for the big game!

Stephanie Holcombe, Holt Fire District commissioner