Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget shows a projected $8.1 million shortfall, according to a Sept. 10 budget workshop presentation.
Harris County ESD 9 serves as a political subdivision and taxing entity that supports fire suppression and emergency medical service operations for the Cy-Fair Fire Department.
The overview
Assistant Chief of Administration Mike Clements presented an FY 2026-27 budget document draft to the board of commissioners during the first budget workshop leading up to the planned adoption on Sept. 24.
“The budget document is a document for the fire department, [and] for the community. It's a communications piece; it tells the community what our priorities are, what our strategies are and also where their tax dollars go,” Clements said.
Clements said the district’s FY 2026-27 budget, based on the no-new-revenue rate of $0.038548 per $100 of valuation, is projected to see $109.6 million in revenue and $117.8 million in expenditures. According to previous Community Impact reporting, the board of commissioners proposed a property tax rate of $0.045 per $100 of valuation.
The FY 2026-27 budget draft listed goals that guided the department's budgeting decisions:
Open, hire and staff Stations 15 and 17
Determine administrative and logistical workforce projections based on department growth
Continue officer training and development
Complete enterprise resource planning implementation and integration
Implement a department-wide employee evaluation program
Develop a community-driven five-year strategic plan
Complete design and start construction of Stations 14 and 16
Complete Training Facility planning
The FY 2026-27 budget is projected to see an increase in expenditures compared to the previous fiscal year, according to the budget draft.
Some context
During the Aug. 27 meeting, Clements attributed the projected shortfall to additional personnel needed for the two upcoming fire stations–totaling 49 new full-time employees overall.
Commissioner Jaime Martinez suggested lowering a proposed 4.2% compensation increase to offset the shortfall and avoid using cash reserves or raising the property tax above the no-new-revenue rate. Clements said the budgeted compensation increase reflects a rolling 5-year Social Security Cost-of-Living-Adjustment average.
The Sept. 10 budget draft included varying compensation increase percentage options and their projected savings to the FY 2026-27 budget:
3.2% raise saving $730,119
2.2% raise saving $1.5 million
No raise saving $3 million
According to the budget draft, the department is projected to continue seeing shortfalls in fiscal years to come as it adds more stations and personnel to keep up with community growth.
The discussion
Martinez suggested selling unused land and speaking with representatives of special-purpose and limited-purpose annexations within the district to negotiate to receive a portion of their sales tax revenue to combat the projected shortfall without raising the property tax rate.
Fire Chief Amy Ramon said Emergency Services Districts were intended to be sustained by property tax revenue.
Commissioner Cameron Dickey said the department has maintained a low tax rate in comparison to other districts in Texas. He said the rate should proportionately move up in relation to the community's and department's growth, and the proposed rate would cost the average homeowner less than two coffees a month.
“We need to protect this community as it grows; that’s our job up here [on that dais],” Commissioner Naressa MacKinnon said. “If that means raising taxes by a menial amount, then that’s what needs to happen.”
Looking ahead
Chief Ramon said the budget document presented during the meeting will be posted on the CFFD website following the budget adoption planned for Sept. 24.
Clements said he plans to have demographers join the next budgeting workshop to provide insight into the community's demographic projections in relation to growth and budgeting decisions.
The Harris County ESD 9 board of commissioners is slated to meet at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 for a budget workshop.
