Districts involved in discussions about countywide service model

A few emergency services districts in Travis County are struggling to make ends meet, and some fire chiefs in western Travis County are considering options for the future of area fire protection.

Currently a 10 cent per $100 valuation tax cap limits the amount of money ESDs can raise to provide services.

Danny Hobby, Travis County executive of Emergency Services, is working on a plan to consolidate county ESDs into a countywide model.

"To me it makes sense to try [to create a county department] if we can come up with a consistent level of service, try to deal with the annexation issue and try to make it sustainable to where [fire departments] can provide the service they need to for the residents of Travis County," he said.

Mike Elliot, chief of the Westlake Fire Department—also known as ESD No. 9—said the first step in a consolidation plan would be to vet the idea legally.

"Under the proposed plan the ESDs would relinquish their taxing authority," Elliot said. "I think there is a question about whether the ESD remains in effect or whether the ESD continues as a taxing authority that collects either no tax or just sales tax."

Hobby said he is looking at two groups while constructing a plan to consolidate ESDs: the group that is served directly by ESDs—those needing emergency services—and the taxpayers.

Annexation issues

"The basic problem the ESDs have is that they are basically not sustainable long-term," Hobby said.

He said the problem may not be that the 10 cent cap is too low, but that not enough funds are collected.

"If you have an annexation that occurs in a particular district and they take away that tax base, then all of a sudden it is not the 10 cents—it is the amount of tax [funds] itself that has gone down," Hobby said. "You are asked to still provide a certain level of service but without the funding."

Elliot said survival of the individual ESDs is a battle of annexation.

"In some cases [the consolidation plan] does help with annexation," he said. "The city of Austin gets bigger and bigger every year, and the tax base for ESDs gets lower and lower every year."

Hobby said he understands why the city of Austin would annex land, but when annexation erodes the tax base of a service delivery system, it is concerning for residents.

East and west

As residents travel throughout the county they expect the same service in Lakeway that they would receive in Westlake or Manor, Elliot said.

"I think the idea [behind this plan] is to equalize that service for the whole county, and I'm not sure that is what the citizens really want," he said.

Elliot said the east side of Travis County—where property values aren't as high and ESDs don't take in as much money as some of the western Travis County ESDs—would benefit from such a model.

Robert Abbott, fire chief for Lake Travis Fire Rescue—also known as ESD 6—said the dynamic of ESDs is different in the western part of the county compared with the eastern portion.

"Our ESD is in a strong position, and we will vet this," he said. "There are some ESDs that have been well-funded and have tailored services to the community they serve."

Elliot said his ESD is one of the few that has not reached the 10 cent cap.

"We are not immediately hurting financially, so there is no need to make a drastic decision about whether this is the right thing to do," he said. "We are governed by five [ESD] commissioners, and they will do what is best for us."

Moving forward

Hobby said if ESDs moved to a county-wide fire department the county would begin issuing a tax rather than each district issuing one.

"We are looking at a plan in its early stages," he said. "We are looking at a tax code plan that may or may not work. We are now seeing whether the county has the authority to have a fire department, so there are some things to vet."

Legalities aside, Elliot said he thinks there may be unintended consequences when potentially switching models of service.

"You might see some push-back from ESDs in the west that aren't in dire straits," he said. "I also think my firefighters would receive a cut in pay and benefits if this were to happen. If you tell someone they are going to lose $5,000–$6,000 a year, they may go look somewhere else [for a job]. It could lead to unexpected turnover."

Hobby said the plan could address concerns about sustainability of the current ESD model and would address the consistency of service by providing compatibility of training, titles and job descriptions throughout the county.

"There are some benefits to looking at this; however, we are not sure it is something we can do," Hobby said. "If the county is taxing, then it is across the entire tax base. Every Travis County taxpayer is paying into it."