As the populations of Prosper and Celina continue to climb, so have the calls for emergency services.

Increased budgets for both communities are projected to ease those growing pains while planning for the future expansion of public safety services, officials said.

Celina’s first responders typically see a 10-20% uptick in emergency calls every year, said Justin Beamis, Celina Fire Department’s division chief of training and logistics. Celina’s population is projected to jump by 11,000 people in the next year, according to budget documents.

“With growth comes calls,” Beamis said.

Prosper is experiencing a similar increase. Police Chief Doug Kowalski said he has noticed an increase in calls for police service as the population grows but the crime rate, which involves dividing reported crimes by every 1,000 residents, has overall stayed the same.


Prosper Fire Chief Stuart Blasingame said the fire department has seen an additional 2,000 calls over the last year, or a roughly 8% increase.

“We feel good where we’re at and with [Fire Station No. 4 opening in 2026], I feel very confident to be able to continue to maintain that high level of excellence that our residents expect,” Blasingame said.

The big picture

Prosper and Celina council members approved their respective fiscal year 2024-25 budgets in September.


Both budgets saw funding increases for their fire and police departments, according to city documents. Included in Prosper’s police budget was nearly $400,000 in grants to add onto the town’s Flock Safety camera system, a network of license plate-scanning cameras that monitor streets for vehicles reported stolen, involved in a recent crime or listed in an Amber Alert.

“Investing in those types of tools [is] allowing our public safety to do more with the same amount of people,” Prosper Finance Director Chris Landrum said.

Prosper’s Fire Department received funding for radio replacements and membership to an online paramedic school, which allows firefighters to complete required paramedic training in Prosper and remain available to go on duty, Blasingame said. The 9-10 months of online lessons are coupled with in-person training.

In Celina, the fire department saw an increase in funding for new staff and equipment, Beamis said.


“Making sure that we have the personnel always readily available and then [keeping] as many resources in the city as possible is extremely important,” Beamis said. “Having that budget increase will definitely help us achieve that.”

The Celina Police Department received funding for new staff as well, Celina Police Chief John Cullison said. Officers typically spend 60% of their shifts engaged on calls for service and 40% on active cases and in the community, he said.

If officers are consistently spending more than 60% of their time each shift on call, then it is time to hire more staff, Cullison said.



Zooming in

Prosper and Celina both have a growing tax base that funds public safety though they are funded through their budgets differently.

Public safety funding in Prosper does not only come from revenue in the general fund. It also comes from two special purpose districts, which are funded by a portion of the town’s sales tax revenue. The special purpose districts mainly go toward salaries for first responders, Blasingame said.

Celina’s public safety departments are solely funded through the general fund. Funding increases for public safety departments are typical for a growing community, Beamis said.


“One of our strategic goals as a city is, ‘Be the city built on public safety,’” Cullison said. “When you do that, you also have to budget for it.”

Some parts of a budget may seem unrelated to public safety but still contribute in other ways, Prosper Engineering Director Hulon Webb said.

Aside from public safety, one of the top priorities for Prosper’s council is accelerating infrastructure, which in turn helps first responders get to emergencies faster, he said. The town will also need roads going to and from Fire Station No. 4, which is currently being designed.

“Right now, we could be as much as 10 or 11 minutes out there to the east side of town, which is a long time,” Blasingame said. “That will reduce having that station out there.”

Celina’s budget also has funding for a new street crew and money set aside for more street maintenance equipment, Celina City Manager Robert Ranc said in an emailed statement. The Celina Police Department is also gaining two new traffic officers through the budget, Cullison said.

“As the city develops, there will be continued investment in public safety, including new fire stations and new firefighters and police officers,” Ranc said. “This investment will be vital to keeping our residents safe as the city continues to grow.”

What comes next?

One project on the horizon in both Prosper and Celina is a fourth fire station. For Prosper, the new station will be located near E. Prosper Trail and be the second-to-last to open before the town reaches buildout.

Celina’s Fire Station No. 4 will go inside the Public Safety Campus along Punk Carter Parkway which hosts Celina’s police headquarters and will one day include a city-run emergency dispatch center.