A measure that would allow Williamson County Emergency Services District No. 8 to retain 2% of local sales tax revenue is supported by a majority of early voters.
Called Proposition A, the ballot item has so far received 6,950 votes in favor of it, or 56.36% of the vote, and 5,381 votes against it.
What you need to know
If approved, the measure would increase the sales tax in Georgetown’s extraterritorial jurisdiction to 8.25%, the maximum rate allowed in the state of Texas.
ESD 8 and the Georgetown Fire Department partner to provide fire and emergency medical services to the city of Georgetown and the ETJ. The additional funding provided by the sales tax revenue would allow ESD 8 to keep up with its portion of the cost sharing agreement between the two entities, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
Additionally, it would allow the organizations to execute on their 10-year plan, which includes hiring six additional fire fighters every year for the next 10 years, and opening a new station every three years during that time. These positions and new stations would help quell growing response times, Georgetown Fire Chief John Sullivan said in early October.
If the measure fails, officials with the ESD said it would not be able to execute on its 10-year plan, and response times risk getting longer.
The background
ESD 8 put the same measure on the ballot last November. It failed that time around with 53.17% of voters voting against it.
At the time, Sullivan said he was surprised to see there wasn’t sufficient support for the proposition.
This year, Sullivan said one of his goals was to better educate voters about what the proposition means.
Next steps
This story will be updated as more results from Election Day are reported. All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
