Pompano Beach has lost a bid to provide fire-rescue service to Pompano Highlands, Tedder and a few other unincorporated neighborhoods north of Sample Road.
Pompano Beach wanted to provide service to the 6,500-population Highlands area, and eventually annex it. The city offered to provide the service for $2.4 million a year.
But Broward County chose Deerfield Beach instead and expects to finalize the deal by September.
The county is still negotiating the price with Deerfield Beach, but "nothing's been finalized," Broward Assistant Fire Chief Todd LeDuc said.
The Pompano Beach proposal "didn't come close to being as good as Deerfield's," County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs said. "We're very happy to see Deerfield be the ones to deliver fire rescue services to those unincorporated neighborhoods because that's what the residents wanted. Everyone seems pretty happy."
The county initially approached Deerfield Beach in January about providing service. In April, Pompano Beach complained it was being left out, and the county let it bid as well.
"They were both good proposals, but Deerfield's for the long haul was a little bit cheaper and the other advantage is they will be able to serve another unincorporated pocket just west of their city," Assistant County Administrator Pete Corwin said. "Deerfield included in their cost the lease of some equipment. Pompano wanted us to provide additional equipment."
Both cities want to annex the 904-acre Pompano Highlands neighborhood in part because it has about $170 million in taxable value, according to a Pompano Beach study in 2000.
"We're still looking for land in Deerfield for a temporary fire station for this area," Corwin said. "Both cities said it would be better served from a different location [than what they already had]. Included in the agreement is an amount of $200,000 for a temporary fire station. There wouldn't be a permanent station until annexation was settled."
With the collapse of the Highlands proposal, Pompano Beach City Manager C. William Hargett Jr. advised city commissioners that the Cresthaven area needs a permanent fire station and recommended that they offer $882,810 for the former site of the Sample-McDougald House, at 3100 N. Dixie Highway. The property's asking price is $1.36 million, he said.
