Fire and EMS services in rural Collin County are strained — but some residents say they have a solution.
Collin County commissioners accepted a petition at Monday’s meeting that could create an Emergency Service District for the county’s unincorporated areas that are part of the county but aren’t annexed into a city or town. The commissioners also set standards that will apply to the district if the voters approve it in an election. A public hearing on the petition is scheduled for July 21.
Creating an emergency services district requires an election and consent from neighboring municipalities, which are listed in the petition. The election would be in November.
Emergency service districts have a variety of funding options according to the Texas Association of Fire and Emergency Districts. They can levy a property tax of no more than ten cents per $100 of a property’s value. They can also use sales tax revenue if voters approve the sales tax, or they can bill for services provided.
Commissioner Darrel Hale said it’s hard to determine at this point what the exact tax impact would be for homeowners.
“It really depends on what the actual amount of property is that's inside the district,” Hale said.
One of the principles the county set for the Emergency Service District says it should avoid double taxation of residents who live in Municipal Utility Districts.
Strained Resources
The Emergency Service District would partner with neighboring municipalities and volunteer fire departments to provide services. Cities can opt out of participating and have 60 days from when they receive notice to alert the county they don’t want to participate. The county commissioners would appoint five board members to the district’s board of commissioners to manage the district.
Brandon Stacks is a firefighter who lives in unincorporated Collin County. Stacks told the commissioners’ court on Monday the current model isn’t sustainable.
“My family and the hundreds of others around me deserve better,” he said.
Currently, Collin County pays cities and towns to have their fire department answer 911 calls in neighboring unincorporated areas. And many cities say that’s not enough funds to help them keep up with the increase in demand for services.
The city of Melissa stopped serving its emergency service district last year. And McKinney and Farmersville have both alerted the county that they’ll stop providing emergency services to unincorporated areas in October.
Jason Brazil is the fire chief in Blue Ridge, a town in Collin County that’s less than two square miles in size that serves 68 square miles of unincorporated county land in addition to its 1,000 residents. Brazil told KERA in a previous interview the long distances his volunteer firefighters have to travel for county calls drives up fuel costs and adds wear and tear to the small town’s aging trucks.
“We’re almost subsidizing the county calls with city funds,” he said.
More money from the county would make a difference for Blue Ridge. Brazil said it could pay for much-needed new equipment or paid positions at the fire department. He said volunteers are burning out, which impacts the fire department’s ability to provide services.
Denton County decided last year to restructure how it approaches fire and emergency services in its unincorporated county areas. Over the next few years, the county will take a more active role in providing fire and EMS services in its unincorporated areas, redesignating it as the Denton County emergency response area.
Brazil said Collin County should follow Denton’s example.
“What’s going on over there that they can afford it, but we can’t over here?” he said. “Collin County is supposed to be one of the richest counties in Texas, but we’re not acting like it.”
Yoon Kim, the Collin County administrator, told KERA in a previous interview the county commissioners recognize there’s an issue and are looking into what solution would be best for the county.
“We want to do the right thing,” Kim said.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News.
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