Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 adopted its annual budget for fiscal year 2016-17 at an Oct. 20 board meeting, setting $31.5 million aside for capital projects for the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department. ESD No. 9 is the governmental body that manages CFVFD’s budget.

Roughly $25 million has been set aside for construction in the budget, a significant increase over previous years. This can largely be attributed to the work on four new stations in the next 18 months, board President Bob Janusaitis said.

“The stations are either replacing stations that have been in existence for many years and their continued repairs do not make economic sense, or they are being relocated for [Insurance Services Office] purposes, or new construction for population growth,” he said.

Of the four stations planned for construction, Stations 2, 7 and 9 will replace existing stations. A brand new Station 13 will serve the Bridgeland neighborhood.

Janusaitis said ESD No. 9 also invested money in this year’s budget to prepare for CFVFD to receive a new ISO rating. ISO, an advisory organization that provides ratings for fire departments using statistical information, is reviewing the ESD to help identify areas where stations are needed.

“For instance, if you were to look at the construction on [The Grand Parkway], there’s lots of construction and a lot of growth we need to keep up with,” Janusaitis said. “Those are areas we will be looking at based on growth.”

Janusaitis said the board made an effort to be more transparent with this year’s budget by including a more comprehensive breakdown of how funds are spent.

“People are clamoring for transparency, and I think we need to get to the point of transparency and clarity,” he said. 

Taxes

The district is projecting to bring in just under $48 million in revenue in FY 2016-17, including $17.86 million from property taxes and $25 million from sales taxes.

As it has done for the past few years, the board adopted the effective tax rate of 53.3 cents per $100 valuation for the FY 2016-17 budget, a drop from 55 cents per $100 valuation for FY 2015-16. An effective rate is the rate that generates the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous fiscal year.

With voter approval, ESD No. 9 began collecting 1 percent of sales tax revenue in 2013, which officials said was necessary to keep up with population growth.

“People don’t realize the ESD has a cap on taxes, and that was one of the reasons why sales tax was important,” Janusaitis said. “Because of growth, there was a limit to what we could charge for property tax.”

The revenue generated by sales tax is helping to fund projects this year, but more than $17 million in projected operating surplus will also go back into the district’s reserves. This year, construction reserves were increased in anticipation of what might be required for new stations in the next few years, Janusaitis said.

“We’re hoping to have a long-term cash forecast so we’re able to anticipate where our expenditures will go in the future,” he said.

Capital projects

While construction makes up a majority of the capital expenditures in the FY 2016-17 budget, other projects are intended to bring additional safety and better response times to the CFVFD.

Janusaitis said he is most looking forward to the EViEWS Safety System. Budgeted for $600,000, it allows emergency vehicles to wirelessly communicate with signals at intersections.

“[It allows] us to get through traffic much better, and it’s safer for the fire apparatus and the citizens,” he said.

The district also plans to replace its fire station alerting system for $780,000. The new system will simultaneously notify multiple stations of an incident, and responders will be able to exit the building faster, Janusaitis said.

“I think the residents are [well-protected] for the funding they’re providing, but we’re always looking to make sure it continues in that fashion,” he said.