Burnet County officially forms two new ESDs
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Burnet County voters approved the formation of two new emergency services districts in the recent Nov. 4 election, guaranteeing emergency medical services for the Briggs/Oakalla area and fire protection services for the Hoover’s Valley area. The Burnet County Commissioners Court officially approved the order to create the new districts on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
With the ESDs formed, Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle will identify and nominate five potential members to ESD No. 10’s volunteer board during the upcoming Dec. 23 meeting of the Commissioners Court. Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther will do the same for ESD No. 11.
ESD No. 10 encompasses the same boundaries as the existing ESD No. 8, which already provides fire protection services. This new district will specifically fund emergency medical services, including an ambulance, to the Briggs/Oakalla area in northeast Burnet County.
ESD No. 8 Board President James Shamard thanked the Commissioners Court for its support on Tuesday. A resident of the new district, he relayed a story about how his neighbor had recently collapsed from a stroke. He said that an ambulance was at least 30 minutes away at the time of the medical emergency.
“When you have a major stroke, heart attack, or serious trauma, every minute counts,” Shamard said. “This item today will change that response time from over 30 minutes to five minutes.”
ESD No. 11 will help fund the currently unfunded Hoover Valley Volunteer Fire Department, which has historically relied on donations and fundraisers to function.
Once commissioners have been appointed to the boards of both ESDs, those boards will then determine the appropriate taxes to be placed on district residents and how the funds collected should best be used to provide their respective emergency services.
What is an ESD?
An ESD is a political subdivision that generally supports, funds, and provides emergency services to a defined geographical area, or “district.”
The emergency services district functions by collecting a small tax from residents within its boundaries, then using that money to fund emergency services. This could include paying for professional firefighters, buying new equipment for an existing fire department, stationing EMTs and an ambulance in the area, or anything that boosts a local response to fire and medical emergencies.
The maximum property tax an ESD can levy is 10 cents per $100 property valuation.
ESDs are run by a board of volunteer directors appointed to their positions by the respective county commissioners court in which the ESD resides.
An ESD is put on the ballot when a petition that contains at least 100 signatures from qualified voters who own taxable real property in the proposed district is filed with a county and then approved by commissioners. The petitions for both of the above ESDs received the required number of signatures, were filed with their respective counties, and accepted by their commissioners courts.
Read more about the formation of ESDs under Sec. 775.012 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.