Fire boss, others object to fundraising letters

"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ..."

Most people know the rest.

Only Ronald Wegner, a Pasco County anesthetist, is turning it around a bit as he refers to a notice being mailed out to taxpayers from the Spring Hill Firefighters Union.

The notice "smells like a bill, looks like a bill and misrepresents a request versus a demand for payment," Wegner said in a letter he sent to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

Wegner wrote the state after his mother received a donation letter from the Spring Hill Association of Firefighters & Paramedics, asking for a contribution of $30.

The letter has the recipient's name, amount due and the "make check payable to" on the front.

Wegner is asking the state to investigate the sender of the letter, all mailing lists and the design of the donation request mailer.

Wegner said the notice, sent to his mother at a Spring Hill nursing home, could easily be misinterpreted as a bill statement "purposely designed as to trick or deceive an elderly or confused person," he wrote in his letter to the state.

Wegner, who said in the letter that his mother has since passed away, worried that others will likely send the union money thinking it is a bill or demand for payment.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, brought this to the attention of Spring Hill Fire Rescue District Chief Mike Rampino during Tuesday's legislative delegation meeting.

Fasano said he received assurance from Rampino that he would broach the issue to the union and Spring Hill fire commissioners to make sure all mailed fundraising letters make it clear to the recipient that these are not bills.

During past fundraisers, Rampino said about 30,000 letters went out to residents asking for voluntary contributions and he received only minor complaints from taxpayers. So far this year, he said he only received Wegner's.

In the past, he said the union has given some of the money to community causes, such as the senior prescription drug program and the YMCA-sponsored events.

Such donation letters are common among other fire unions, Rampino said.

Bill Slack, manager of the fundraising drive for the Spring Hill Firefighters Union, said there is no attempt to deceive anybody. Slack said the county's professional union members also send out donation letters.

Taxpayers are called beforehand and asked if they want to donate money to the nonprofit professional union. If they do, they are sent donation cards in the mail with the amount of money promised.

"Unfortunately, some of those calls do go out to senior citizens or people in nursing homes," Slack said. There is no way to screen calls, he said.

Nobody, he stressed, is obligated to pay the amount promised to a caller on the phone.

But Spring Hill Fire Commissioner Robert Giammarco calls the fundraising letters "an embarrassment" to the taxpayers of Spring Hill and crosses the line.

"This looks like a bill and if you're a senior citizen, you'd be most apt to pay it," Giammarco said.

Giammarco said he is also upset with Rampino for not informing fire commissioners about the matter.

"We knew nothing about it," he said. "I don't think this is right."

Giammarco said he intends to find out more about the union's fundraising efforts, especially as to where the donation money goes.

According to an insert sent with the letters, the money helps support Spring Hill firefighters youth programs, educate the public on fire hazards and fire safety, support area youth and civic groups, support the annual Christmas Lights show, educate the public on hurricane awareness and other causes.