FIRE OFFICIALS SPEAK ON PATH AHEAD AFTER ESD HEARING CANCELLED
The Chappell Hill Volunteer Fire Department says they and the Meyersville Volunteer Fire Department will look forward, after today’s (Tuesday) public hearing to consider a petition and possibly call an election this fall for an emergency services district (ESD) had to be cancelled.
emergency services district for the Chappell
Hill and Meyersville Volunteer Fire Departments.
The area of the ESD would align with the service
area of the two departments, not including the City
of Brenham's extraterritorial jurisdiction. A public
hearing for the ESD was cancelled on Tuesday due
to not enough notice being provided.
Chappell Hill VFD Captain Dustin Brown spoke to Washington County Commissioners about the hearing, which was cancelled due to insufficient notice provided for the hearing itself. The county announced on Monday that the notice must be published two straight weeks in the local newspaper at least 21 days prior to the hearing, but the notice was only published once in the Brenham Banner Press.
County Attorney Renee Mueller said Monday, August 19th is the cutoff to submit items to the state for inclusion on the November ballot. As such, the measure will have to be considered later for possible inclusion on the May 2025 ballot.
Brown said the fire departments will not be discouraged and that they will continue to do their best to serve their communities.
The ESD would levy an ad valorem tax of no more than $0.10 per $100 valuation on residents within the service territories of the Chappell Hill and Meyersville VFDs, not counting the City of Brenham’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The ESD was intended to become the primary source of funding for the two fire departments.
Brown thanked County Clerk Beth Rothermel for her correspondence with the Banner Press, as well as the commissioners court for working with the departments throughout this process. He additionally thanked Commissioner Dustin Majewski for calling the fire departments Monday night to check on them after they received word that the hearing had to be cancelled.
Mueller explained that once a petition is filed, state law requires the county clerk to give notice of a public hearing to the newspaper. That notice must be published in the paper no later than the 21st day before the hearing and for two consecutive weeks. Following today’s public hearing, the court would have voted on whether to put the measure on the ballot for the election in November.
The departments needed a minimum of 100 signatures to bring the petition before commissioners and secured 186. After review of the signatures, County Elections Administrator Carol Jackson said 172 of them were fully verified as residents who are registered to vote within the boundaries of the proposed ESD. Some of that difference includes residents who have property inside the ESD but are not registered to vote there.
J Sturrock.. the lack of organizational skills was by the county representatives not following up on their job to have a posting done twice in the banner press… from what I understand the ESD board has all their part of the ESD handled correctly.
The lack of organizational foresight doesn’t inspire confidence. More concerning is that once property owners vote for the creation of this ESD, they will have no vote in what happens in the future. The ESD will be governed by a board of five, appointed by the County Commissioners Court for 2-year terms. The TX existing cap on ESD property tax is .10 on every $100, but ESD’s can also choose to collect sales tax (up to 8.25%) and bill for services such as emergency medical services or fire protection. For more info see Safe-D.org or Chapter 775 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.