A group of concerned citizens who petitioned for the measure believes the district should be using the half-cent tax to provide ambulance services. However, district officials say the tax was never meant to support districtwide ambulances, and should the measure be approved, it would result in over 130 layoffs.
What’s happening
An ESD is a political subdivision that supports or provides local emergency services within a specific district. It can impose a voter-approved sales and use tax, as well as a property tax for its services.
TCESD No. 2 provides fire suppression, fire prevention and first-response emergency medical care for 77 square miles across Pflugerville and outside of the city.
The ballot measure will “abolish the .5% local sales and use tax” in Pflugerville and “decrease the sales and use tax from 1% to .5%” in other areas of the district.
Pflugerville Residents for Responsible Taxation, self-described as a nonpartisan group of concerned citizens, believes the district is overfunded for the services provided. The group also objects to the ESD referring to itself as the Pflugerville Fire Department, as the organization is not managed by the city.
The details
Pflugerville Residents for Responsible Taxation intends “to promote transparency and accountability within local governance.” The group said that since TCESD No. 2 stopped providing ambulance services in 2022, the half-cent tax shouldn’t be going to the district.
The city of Pflugerville is currently using an outside contractor for ambulance services. TCESD No. 2 still provides these services for other areas of the district, and officials say the district’s firefighter paramedics also assist the for-profit ambulance provider within the city.
When the tax was first approved by voters in 2000, Nick Perkins, Fire Chief for Travis County ESD No. 2, said "nobody was talking paramedics or ambulances at that time." TCESD No. 2 voters, outside of the city of Pflugerville, also approved a half-cent sales tax in 2014.
The ESD has collected property taxes since 1992, and the 2023 property tax rate was .08 cents per $100 valuation.
What they’re saying
Perkins expressed concerns over the ability for the ESD to perform its duties, should the measure pass.
“With 40% of our budget defunded and removed, we would have to eliminate over 130 positions within the fire department,” he said. “That would not allow us to have the appropriate staff to staff firetrucks and fire stations as we do today.”
A statement, signed by the PRRT and listing David Rogers, a Pflugerville City Council member, as its spokesperson, urges a vote for transparency and tax relief.
“The unelected ESD No. 2 board’s delays and lack of accountability have placed an undue burden on taxpayers, but we remain focused and determined,” the statement reads. “We are confident that on Nov. 5, the voters will make their voices heard and choose the right path forward.”
What else?
Rogers is also a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against the TCESD No. 2 board, calling on the board to remove the name “Pflugerville Fire Department” from the proposition.
“This extraneous and misleading language has no place on the ballot, and its inclusion serves only to further the unelected board’s agenda of creating confusion among voters,” the group said in a statement.
Perkins said the ESD board received a letter from an attorney representing the group, demanding to remove the name from the ballot measure.
“It's very confusing for us,” Perkins said. “We are also known as the Pflugerville Fire Department—that goes back to our roots of 1955 when the department was created.”
The city of Pflugerville said it is not involved in a lawsuit regarding ballot language. Travis County did not respond to requests for comment.
