The Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department will keep its doors open with roughly the same budget after a new operating agreement with Sarasota County was approved on Wednesday, Oct. 8.

The agreement calls for the county to provide $800,000 annually to the NVFD, along with $250,000 for tuition reimbursements and $107,500 for equipment.

It came after areas north of Laurel Road and west of I-75, previously serviced by the NVFD, were absorbed by the Sarasota County Fire District. Public officials said they worried that the projected growth of the NVFD's coverage area - Nokomis, southern Osprey, and Casey Key – was too much for the volunteer fire department to handle in the coming decade.

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