By JILL RICHARDSON
Special to the News Chief, 12/7/1999

Bob Sarno lives just outside the city limits of Winter Haven. From where he sits on his back porch in Garden Grove, he can see another house that sits just outside city limits, and the soon-to-be developed, recently annexed land beside it.

Sarno, president of a local coalition that's fought annexation in the area, says he's concerned about the safety of the people who will live in houses on the property recently acquired by the city of Winter Haven.

"If a fire started on the property that is now inside the city limits, it would take the (Winter Haven) fire department 15 minutes to respond," said Sarno. "But property outside the city limits is protected by the county fire departments, which can respond in three to four minutes."

County fire stations are about five minutes away from the annexed area. Winter Haven fire officials estimate that city response would be five to seven minutes from its downtown station, and about 15 minutes from its other station near the Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Fire protection in annexed areas is just one concern that a new group, being formed to promote annexation into Winter Haven, will need to address. The group will be charged with changing the minds of people like Sarno, who are reluctant to join the city.

A public/private partnership to advocate annexation is one of five major goals of an economic development subcommittee of Winter Haven's visioning project.

Ultimately, the work of the economic development group may be one of the most critical aspects of the months-long visioning process. City Commissioner Tom Freijo said the likelihood of achieving many of the city's goals during the next 20 years will depend largely on the city's ability to increase in size.

"In order to accomplish the objective of bringing in more businesses and educating people with the needed skills for those jobs, the city has to annex to broaden the tax base," said Freijo.

He observed that 26,000 residents in the city of Winter Haven are paying for services that are also used by 75,000 non-city residents in greater Winter Haven.

"The county pays $90,000 per year to keep the library open to everyone without charge, while the city has to subsidize $500,000 per year," he said. "So you have over 60 percent of the users, who are non-city, paying only $90,000."

Freijo said it's easy to see why broadening the tax base is crucial for Winter Haven to continue to grow and improve.

Committee co-chair Bud Strang, co-chair of the Vision by Design economic development subcommittee said the group didn't initially have annexation as an objective, but the topic kept coming up.

"Annexation is more than just expanding the city's tax base," said Strang.

"It's about expanding the city's leadership base." Residents outside the city limits are not eligible to run for an elected position in the city government. Communication is important because economics attract new businesses and keep existing businesses growing," said Strang. "There's a civic aspect involved."

Commissioner Dave Dershimer was also on the committee. "I'm encouraged that young, up and coming professionals recognized the importance of expanding the tax base."

Dershimer said the government did not drive the committee, yet the committee saw the situation as an opportunity to form a partnership to address the issue of broadening of city structure through annexation.

"Nobody gets excited about things changing if they think there will be a negative economic impact," he said. "The potential to enlarge the area of the city is beneficial to the whole area."

Sarno, president of the Greater Garden Grove Coalition, said he's not against annexation per se.

"Value - show us they are going to give us more value for our money because we will be paying more taxes," said Sarno. "And don't go around properties with residents so no vote will be required. Do it right."

> About 520 acres have been annexed by the city of Winter Haven this year, with about 505 of those acres being annexed along along Dundee Road through agreements. The rest of the land has mainly consisted of single-family residences that were annexed

voluntarily.

During the 10 years from Jan. 1, 1989, to Dec. 31, 1998, about 3,143 acres, or 4.9 square miles were annexed into the city of Winter Haven. This is an increase in total area of 19.3 percent. All of the annexations during the last decade have consisted of land area only; no water bodies have been annexed.

The city's total acreage of 16, 423 acres covers about 25 square miles. Of that, about 70 percent is land and about 30 percent is water,

Commissioner Dershimer said he's glad that people have started talking about annexation, from both sides of the table.

"There's so much value in [communication], that any other product that results from this is just a bonus," he said. "There are going to be a lot of bonuses."