Harris County Emergency Services District No. 15 and the city of Magnolia are holding a special election this May for various tax propositions. Tomball-area voters within ESD 15—which contracts with the Tomball Fire Department to provide services—will see a proposition on the May 5 ballot to approve a 5-cent property tax rate ceiling increase in the district. The proposition asks voters to consider an increase to the property tax rate ceiling to help fund full-time staffing of a fourth fire station, ESD 15 Commissioner Buddy Roth said. “We’re asking the folks to OK an increase so that we can staff a new fire station over on Mahaffey Road,” he said. If approved by voters, the property tax rate ceiling would increase from about 5 cents per $100 valuation to 10 cents per $100 valuation. However, Roth said the district does not expect to increase the tax rate to the maximum amount at first. In Magnolia, voters will see a proposition by the city to reauthorize a sales and use tax for maintenance and repair of municipal streets. The city currently collects a portion of funds from the 4B Community Development Corp. dedicated to road repair, City Administrator Paul Mendes said. This tax proposition is allowed by House Bill 445, which was approved by the Texas Legislature in 2001. Although this sales and use tax is already in effect, residents must vote for the tax proposition every few years to keep funding road repairs, Mendes said. “That’s what we use predominantly for repaving all our streets and our work within the city,” he said. “[This is] not a thing different [than the past]. What it does is it tucks away a little bit of money every month so when we need to repave the road, we don’t have to go out for road bonds or something. The money is already in the account, and we can repair the road.”