ORLANDO, Fla. — Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek has made some noise this week after bringing up talks about possibly consolidating the city’s fire department with Seminole County.

This comes after the Seminole County Board of Commissioners talked about the idea at their last budget meeting.

What You Need To Know

  • In a June 17 meeting, the Seminole County Board of Commission chairperson shared that he felt it was in residents' best interest for them to consider consolidating fire services and law enforcement

  • Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek sparked a discussion on social media about consolidating the city's own fire department

  •  Sladek looked into the cost of funding Oviedo's fire department and found different numbers for the total amount the city was spending on fire services

  • The city of Oviedo will move to figure out how much they're spending before talking about consolidating

When it comes to fire rescue service in Seminole County, it’s divided up between the county as a whole and four cities.

One of those cities is the city of Oviedo, but in terms of response, they all act as a single department.

"Right now, there is a first response agreement. It doesn’t matter what city you’re in or whether you’re in the city or the county, whatever team is closest to you, that’s who responds," said Sladek.

And while the city of Oviedo has had its fire department for years, questions about consolidation came about after Seminole County Commissioners brought it up during a budget meeting last week.

"If us as elected officials throughout the county really, really want to leverage the efficiency for our taxpayers, it’s about having those tough conversations about consolidation, the additional fire division, as well as law enforcement," said Seminole County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jay Zembower.

And this week, Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek took to social media ready to start that conversation.

She then looked into how much the city spends on the department and became confused.

The Oviedo Professional Firefighters Local 3476 shared that the costs are at about 10.9 million dollars. It's a number they said they pulled from the city’s May 27 budget meeting.

But that number doesn’t match two others that Sladek said she found, including the costs in 2023-2024 and this year’s proposed budget.

“We can’t even agree on what the facts are. And we can’t have a good discussion unless we know how much does it actually cost," Sladek said. "And if we did consolidate, would there be any savings?"

Sladek said this could have happened because their accountants process the numbers differently than the state requires.

But the union feels it’s bigger than numbers. Their President Charlie Koepsell sent Spectrum News 13 a statement saying:

“We are disappointed that the Mayor consistently pushes for consolidation. We have great respect for the Seminole County Fire Department, but as Oviedo Firefighters we take great pride in serving the citizens of Oviedo. The majority of our firefighters live or grew up in Oviedo, and we wish to continue to serve Oviedo for many years to come.”

Sladek said she doesn’t want to start trouble, but feels it’s important to do what’s best for the city and its residents.

“Then, we look at the level of service and if the number is lower and we can run our department at less costs than the county, then really the discussion is over — at least for me it’s over," Sladek said. "If there is a gap and the county can offer some savings and the same level of service, then we have a discussion.”

Sladek said the first step is to figure out what the city is actually spending on the fire department before they do anything.

Once that’s resolved, she hopes to bring this to the board so they can discuss if the change is necessary.