When property taxes aren't enough, Florida cities use fees

Amid increased scrutiny of their property tax collections, some cities and counties are emphasizing a different method to fund core services.

They’re turning to service fees to augment their budgets, using them to pay for spiking public safety salaries, construction costs for new fire stations, equipment and digging up aging pipes below busy streets. Tacked onto property tax bills, these fees can’t be spent as freely as general tax revenues, but they often don’t draw the same complaints either.

Ocoee more than doubled its fire fee this year to $139. Kissimmee created a new fire fee of $150 to pay for about 25% of its fire department budget. Oviedo’s stormwater fee is on a path to increase more than 250% by 2033 to $41.54 per month.

Last year, Orlando substantially hiked its stormwater f