Navarre Beach Fire Rescue Chief Danny Fureigh says he's not backing down on his effort to create a special fire district, even after voters failed to come up with a 60% majority for a non-binding referendum that would have given pensions and state benefits to his firefighters.
In Tuesday's special election, 56% of Navarre Beach voters said "yes" to the referendum and 44% said "no," which is just 4 percentage points shy of the 60% threshold needed for state Rep. Jayer Williamson to take the bill to the next level.
"The 60% is my protocol," Williamson said on Thursday. "Any time I'm going to grant a taxing authority or a fee or anything like that to an entity, it needs to meet that 60% threshold and have a major buy-in from the citizens so I can safely feel the community supports this wholeheartedly."