Myakka City residents approve merger with East Manatee Fire Rescue

With the support of Myakka City residents, leaders of East Manatee Fire Rescue District now will begin preparing for a merger between East Manatee and the Myakka City Fire Control District.

More than 55% of Myakka residents voted Aug. 18 to support a proposed merger and to allow East Manatee to charge them an ad valorem tax assessment. Myakka City Fire Chief Danny Cacchiotti said even with a new ad valorem assessment, East Manatee’s tax structure will provide financial relief for most Myakka property owners after the merger.

“I would like to thank the residents of Myakka City for trusting East Manatee with managing their fire and rescue services in the future,” East Manatee Chief Lee Whitehurst said. “We have a lot to do to put this all together for October 2021 so now it’s time to get to work.”

East Manatee’s and Myakka’s fire boards are set to jointly approve the merger at a meeting Aug. 20. 

The Aug. 20 vote kicks off a yearlong political process to formalize the merger in October 2021. Manatee County commissioners, who authorized Myakka City Fire Control District as a dependent district, will have to approve the decision Aug. 25. After that, attorneys will prepare East Manatee’s enabling documents to include Myakka’s additional 220 square miles. Those changes will be presented to a local delegation of legislators for approval at the state level, and then county commissioners eventually will have to vote to dissolve Myakka’s district.

“It’s a long road of approvals to get there,” Whitehurst. “We’re going to turn out attention internally to how do we plan to merge it all together by Oct. 1, 2021.”