Temple Terrace council authorizes due diligence for combined police and fire complex, eyes up to $50 million bond

Temple Terrace City Council on Feb. 3 authorized staff to proceed with due diligence on a proposed combined police station and Fire Station 3 on a five-acre site at 7911 Harney Road and to seek voter approval for a general-obligation bond not to exceed $50 million. City officials said the project would be placed on an upcoming August primary ballot unless the council directs otherwise.

City Manager (first identified in the meeting transcript) told council the 5-acre parcel was purchased in 2024 for $1,600,000 from Rollison Ranch sale proceeds and could support both a new police headquarters and a fire station. He said the city’s police operation still occupies roughly an 11,000-square-foot footprint dating to the late 1970s while the department has grown; the department had 26 sworn officers in 1982 and now has 57 sworn officers and 20 civilian employees serving about 28,000 residents.

On fire response times, the City Manager said staff analysis shows 90th-percentile response times in the eastern portion of the city average 8 minutes, 29 seconds, compared with the city benchmark of 6 minutes, 40 seconds; the presentation cited a projection that that gap could widen to 10–12 minutes by 2035 if an additional station is not added. "In the 90th percentile response bracket for the area that would be served by our future fire station 3, their calls are averaging 8 minutes and 29 seconds," the City Manager said during the presentation.

Architectural planning and conceptual cost estimates presented to council put a 33,000-square-foot police facility in the rough range of $34.6 million (presented as the high end of the estimate) and a two-bay, roughly 10,000-square-foot Fire Station 3 at about $10.7 million. Staff told council these figures are conservative estimates and that bond underwriters recommend a funding cushion because of the two-year window likely between voter approval and breaking ground.

Finance options and fiscal implications were presented to the council. Staff said a general-obligation bond would be the preferred financing method for transparency because the ballot would ask voters directly whether to fund the public-safety facilities. The City Manager said the finance team recommended a 30-year bond and provided an estimated millage-rate range between 0.9 and 0.98 mills. He presented the August primary as one option for placing the question before voters and said a special election in 2027 would also be possible but would carry additional cost.

Supporters including current and former city residents and representatives of the Temple Terrace Professional Firefighters told the council the facilities are long-planned priorities and urged timely action. Vice Mayor moved to proceed with due diligence, seek a general-obligation bond of about $50 million, and place the question on the primary ballot; the motion was seconded and adopted by voice vote.

The next steps: staff will complete due diligence, finalize cost estimates and financing details with bond counsel and the city’s financial adviser, develop a voter-information plan, and return to council with documents necessary to put a bond question on the ballot. The council did not adopt final bond documents or set a bond amount beyond the stated "not to exceed" figure; those formal actions require additional council authorization and, if applicable, ballot certification.