Laurie MermetTown insists residents will pay less despite cost of building new stations; county buys property on Donald Ross Road.
For nearly three decades, when Jupiter residents needed firefighters or an ambulance, Palm Beach County answered the call.
But when the town decided to take those responsibilities into its own hands, the two governments had a few bills to sort out.
The separation has meant millions of dollars in property purchases, including the county paying nearly $2 million for two homes on Donald Ross Road; equipment and supplies; and personnel costs for two governments that will now serve their communities independently.
The Jupiter Town Council took the controversial step of creating its own fire department in August 2023, ending an arrangement with the county that had been in place since 1996. Town firefighters began their first shift Oct. 1.
With three stations and 94 employees, at least 23 firefighters will be on duty each day.
Over the past three years, Jupiter spent $58 million preparing for the takeover, nearly $10 million less than anticipated, town spokesperson Shawn Reed told Stet News.
About $26 million, and the largest portion of that budget, went toward building two fire stations, while another $8.5 million paid for fire trucks and rescue vehicles, Reed said.
That left about $25 million in spending on salaries and benefits, equipment, supplies, command staff vehicles and administrative costs to get the department running.
County converts home into station
Meanwhile, Palm Beach County found itself in the real estate market, agreeing to spend nearly $2 million on two houses along Donald Ross Road west of Florida’s Turnpike to relocate firefighters who will continue serving neighborhoods outside Jupiter town limits, county records show.
The properties — which took six years to find, according to a county fire official — would support fire rescue services in Palm Beach Country Estates, Eastpointe and Old Marsh. The county plans to renovate one house and hold on to the other, with no plans to tear them down, spokesperson Tara Cardosa told Stet News.
The land buys will be paid for through the county’s municipal service taxing unit, or MSTU, which supports fire-rescue services in unincorporated areas, Cardoso said.
The county is buying the houses because it gave up its former Station 16 at 3550 Military Trail in Abacoa, which was built on land Jupiter had given the county in 2000. Under the agreement between the two governments, the property would return to Jupiter once the county stopped providing fire services.
But the property wasn’t coming back entirely free.
County records show Jupiter agreed to pay nearly $350,000 to take over the station, now called Jupiter Station 11, to cover the remaining value of the building as required under its original agreement with Palm Beach County
“The new Station 16 location (on Donald Ross Road) is better positioned to serve our unincorporated areas,” Cardoso wrote, adding that the new station will house six firefighters at a time when built.
How much will this cost taxpayers?
Jupiter approved nearly $26 million in construction contracts for two new fire stations, Station 10 along U.S. 1 across from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Station 18; and Station 12 on 3 acres of Cinquez Park along Indiantown Road.
For Jupiter taxpayers, the question now is whether breaking away will save money, providing the long-term savings town leaders promised during the heated debates over the changeover.
Jupiter residents paid about $32 million in the previous year for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue services. Town officials estimated the amount would have grown to $35 million this year if the county remained the provider.
The town feared even larger increases when it gave notice to the county about its plans to depart, fears some county officials said were unfounded.
Now, town residents no longer pay the fire-rescue MSTU property tax to the county but will pay more to Jupiter in property taxes, plus a newly initiated fire-rescue fee. The fee is based on a property’s square footage.
Overall, the change has saved property owners money, Jupiter Mayor Jim Kuretski told Stet News. He put the amount at about $10 million.
Reed said Jupiter expects to make back the roughly $42 million it spent starting the department in less than five years by spending less on fire services than it would have with the county.
County fire union still criticizes move
Supporters of the split said the move would lower costs, give Jupiter more control over fire and emergency services and improve response times. But opponents worried about higher costs, losing experienced county crews and changing a system that already worked.
For Kuretski, who won reelection last year after making the new fire department a central issue of his campaign, the opening marked the end of a yearslong process.
“I can’t put it into words. We’re extremely joyful,” Kuretski said of the department’s opening.
But not everyone is on board.
“I think what Jupiter did is still a step backward, and I truly do believe it’s a reduction in service for the citizens,” said Mike O’Brien, a county fire rescue captain and vice president with Local 2928 of the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County. The union sued to block the department’s creation in 2023 but lost.
O’Brien worries that separating from the countywide system would make it harder for departments to help one another during emergencies.
“We canceled our automatic aid agreement with Gardens and Jupiter,” O’Brien said. “What that ends up doing is shrinking a network of 51+ stations down to whatever Gardens and Jupiter has.”
The separation does not mean the two departments have cut ties entirely. The Jupiter Town Council approved a mutual-aid agreement with Palm Beach County on Sept. 22, allowing the agencies to request help when needed. But unlike automatic aid, mutual aid relies on requests, not automatic responses.
“If we become too fractured, we have less units to be able to backfill,” O’Brien said.
