By a landslide vote, Denton County Emergency Services District 1 will annex the Lantana community into its area of service. Complete but unofficial results Tuesday night showed voters also approved a new District 2 to provide emergency medical services to the same area District 1 covers.
Emergency Services District 1 provides fire, rescue, emergency medical services and other emergency services for Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Corral City, Northlake and surrounding areas of Denton County.
Under its new fire chief, Ricky Vaughan, District 1 is making up for lost funding. Its former fire chief pleaded guilty in May to embezzling district funds and stealing from firefighters’ pensions.
Vaughan told the Denton Record-Chronicle after the election results came in that his biggest fear was residents not voting because they were uninformed about the propositions.
The chief said he has been to every city meeting and local event for months to mitigate this fear. He said he couldn’t be more proud of the dedication his staff showed toward educating voters, sometimes working 15-hour days and weekends to do so.
“It’s been a roller-coaster ride,” Vaughan said. “But ... if you want to be making a difference in the community, you’ve got to be engaged. We’ve been doing that from day one, being transparent and accountable.”
Voters add ESD 2
Voters passed Proposition A to create Denton County Emergency Services District 2, which will provide emergency medical services to the same jurisdiction.
A total of 2,067 people, or 89.2% of voters, approved the district’s creation.
ESD 1 contracts out its EMS services. The creation of District 2 will help secure funding for in-house EMS services while District 1 focuses on fire and rescue services.
Having two districts is expected to alleviate funding deficits and allow the districts to keep up with call volume.
“When the ESD was created, there were two permanent positions, and the rest were all volunteers,” Vaughan said. “Fast-forward almost two decades and you’ve got 42 full-time staff with three fire stations across 65 square miles of 45,000 people. It’s a professional organization trying to live on the same level of income, and that’s just not sustainable.”
Officials worried that, given the growing population, response times would diminish if voters did not approve a second district.
“With the passing of ESD 2, that provides a stable, sustainable funding source so we can provide emergency medical services to the citizens we serve,” he said.
With the proposition passed, voters will pay an ad valorem tax that caps at 10 cents per $100 property valuation.
Denton County commissioners will set the property tax rate initially. The rate will be evaluated and reviewed every year and could go up or down but never exceed the cap.
Voters annex Lantana
With voters’ approval, ESD 1 now services the Lantana master-planned community and areas referred to as Denton County Fresh Water Districts No. 6 and 7.
Lantana and water district voters had to approve their annexation along with approval from voters already within the emergency services district’s jurisdiction.
A total of 2,134 people, or 92.2% of voters, in both voting groups voted in favor of annexing Lantana and the water districts.
The ESD already serviced these areas on a contractual basis, with Lantana accounting for 25% of District 1’s call volume in 2022.
Annexing the area into ESD 1’s jurisdiction helps secure funds to serve the area. Vaughan called it a win-win for both the ESD and Lantana residents.
“They were doing a service contract with their HOA, and it costs the HOA probably $10,000 to send those bills out separately,” Vaughan said. “That’s not going to happen anymore. ... There were a lot of advantages and efficiencies created by them coming into the ESD.”
Additionally, Vaughan said that Lantana residents now have voting representation in matters that affect the district.
The residents of these newly annexed areas are now subject to a tax rate of 8.0283 cents per $100 property valuation.
The district’s tax rate is evaluated and reviewed every year and could go up or down as needed but will never exceed a cap of 10 cents per $100 property valuation.
Lantana and the water district voters also approved assuming their share of the outstanding debts and taxes of District 1.