WASHINGTON CO. COMMISSIONERS TO VOTE ON ESD PETITION FOR CHAPPELL HILL, MEYERSVILLE VFDs
Washington County Commissioners will hold a public hearing and take a vote on Tuesday for the petition submitted to create an Emergency Services District (ESD) for the Chappell Hill and Meyersville Volunteer Fire Departments.
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.
Members of the fire departments collected signatures on a petition to bring before commissioners to call an election for the ESD in November. The departments needed a minimum of 100 signatures and, as of the July 5th deadline, secured 186 signatures.
The ESD would become the primary source of funding for the fire departments by levying an ad valorem tax of no more than $0.10 per $100 valuation on residents within their service territories, not counting the City of Brenham’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners will act on proposing a new property tax rate. The current adopted tax rate is $0.3840 per $100, consisting of $0.2940 for maintenance and operations, $0.0823 cents for road and bridge, and $0.0077 for interest and sinking.
Commissioners will also hear a request from the Washington County Historical Commission to place a permanent Texas Historical Marker at an appropriate location on the courthouse lawn after work is completed at the facility next year. According to the agenda packet, the marker is planned to commemorate the site of a speech given by Sam Houston in the courthouse on March 31, 1861, after Texas had seceded from the Union and Houston had been deposed by the legislature because he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new Confederate government.
The court will later consider placing a drop box for chronic wasting disease samples on the east side of the Washington County Constable’s Office at 1405 East Blue Bell Road. The drop box will open on September 30th and close on February 29, 2025.
There will also be discussion on a formal notice from AMP Texas Pipelines, LLC for a natural gas line across the county right-of-way of Bredthauer Road in Precinct 4. No action is needed.
Commissioners will meet Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Washington County Courthouse.
Has all the signatures been validated to live inside the boundaries of the proposed ESD? I’m sure not all 186 live inside the proposed boundary.
“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.”
I hope this answers your assumption.