OUR TURN: ESD supporters need to add fuel to their campaign
Getting voters to approve two new emergency services districts will help preserve firefighting efforts in the greater Granite Shoals and Marble Falls areas.
However, proponents also must do a better job of organizing and educating the public if they hope to get voters to approve the measures in the Nov. 8 election.
The deadline to have an ESD on the May 14 ballot already has passed. There are a host of reasons why proponents weren’t able to get their initiative before the public, including city councils that didn’t want to play ball.
On the plus side, advocates for an ESD now have the next few months to drum up support, create more awareness and explain the need to the public for a taxing mechanism that helps fund volunteer fire departments and small fire departments.
Voters, in turn, can put pressure on the politicians to back up the measure, because it cannot go on the ballot unless these council members agree.
An ESD is a political subdivision that collects property taxes to fund fire and paramedic services. Under the state Constitution, an ESD can levy no more than 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The boundaries for the proposed ESD No. 3 include the city limits and extraterritorial jurisdictions for Granite Shoals and Highland Haven, as well as part of the Horseshoe Bay ETJ, specifically the Wilderness Cove subdivision.
The proposed boundaries for ESD No. 6 include ETJs for Cottonwood Shores, Marble Falls and Meadowlakes and another part of the Horseshoe Bay ETJ.
The truth is, the economy has not been good to volunteer fire departments and small departments with only a handful of paid staff.
In most cases in Texas, these types of fire operations depend on small stipends from town or county governments, and the rest they raise through raffles, fish fries and barbecues.
Given the economic slump the country has experienced, fire departments are coming up short in terms of buying adequate equipment and keeping pace with rising fuel costs.
Yet, fires and emergencies are no respecters of bank accounts and funding shortfalls, especially in Central Texas where a lack of rain can turn the ground into a tinderbox.
That is why the work of volunteer fire departments and small departments — operations that are not wholly funded by a municipality — must continue.
Their ability to save lives and preserve property must be maintained and kept at a constant state of readiness.
But that will be difficult to do if these departments find themselves so deep in the hole they actually have to shut down or reduce services.
While it might sound farfetched, officials with the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department already have said such a possibility exists if they can’t raise extra funds.
Six ESDs already have been created in Burnet County. Obviously, voters in those areas saw the benefit in providing extra funding to their fire services.
If firefighters and other proponents want to see two more, ESD No. 3 and ESD No.6, then now is the time for them to do what the politicians do — start campaigning for their cause.