Hidalgo County calls for May election over fire, ambulance service

This May, voters in rural western Hidalgo County will decide whether to approve two new property taxes that will help pay for emergency ambulance and firefighting services.

The property tax levies would come as part of the creation of two so-called “emergency services districts,” or ESDs, that will also be up for voter approval this spring.

On Tuesday, the Hidalgo County Commissioners’ Court unanimously voted to order an election for the creation of Emergency Services District No. 5 and Emergency Services District No. 6.

ESD 5 would be solely dedicated to EMS service while ESD 6 would focus on fire services, Krystine Ramon, an attorney with the Houston-based law firm, Coveler and Peeler, said during a commissioners court meeting Tuesday morning.

“An ESD helps provide fire and EMS protection, especially with the growth of counties that have outgrown out of municipalities,” Ramon said.

If approved, the two ESDs would each levy a property tax of $0.10 per $100 valuation. For a $100,000 home, that will equal an additional $200 in property taxes each year.

In much of the Rio Grande Valley, when a person calls 9-1-1 to report a fire, it’s typically a city-owned and operated fire truck that responds.

If the caller is looking for help in a medical emergency, the paramedics that respond either work for a local municipality or with a private ambulance company that is under contract with a city.

But responding to 9-1-1 calls from rural residents is a different story, Precinct 2 Commissioner Eduardo “Eddie” Cantu said during Tuesday’s meeting.

This map illustrates the boundaries of the proposed Hidalgo County Emergency Services District No. 5, which would be solely dedicated to EMS service. In addition to unincorporated Hidalgo County Precinct No. 3 not located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of any municipality, the district will include the municipal boundaries of Alton as well as the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Alton, La Joya, Mission and Palmhurst. (Courtesy photo)

When a rural resident calls 9-1-1, sometimes, “they don’t have anybody that responds,” Cantu said.

Hidalgo County has attempted to meet those rural emergency needs through a variety of avenues.

Municipal fire departments often respond to rural fires, then submit invoices to the county for reimbursement.

For ambulance service, the county has worked out a hodgepodge of contracts with municipal and private EMS providers to ensure ambulances respond to even the most rural address.

In other parts of the county, such as the Delta cities of Edcouch, La Villa and Monte Alto, those ambulance services are paid for via ESD property taxes.

But Precinct 3 — which includes the cities of Mission, Alton, Palmhurst, Palmview, Peñitas and La Joya — has never had an emergency services district, Precinct 3 Commissioner Everardo “Ever” Villarreal said.

So when a rural west county resident dials 9-1-1, that expense winds up being paid by the county as a whole.

And that’s what prompted county leaders to start looking into creating an ESD more than a year ago.

“What we’re trying to do here is to match the cost of providing the service to those people that are receiving the service,” County Judge Richard F. Cortez said.

“Right now, we have some inequities because our funds that are paying for those services come from, globally, the whole county,” he said.

Additionally, as the county has been seeing a boom in both residential and commercial development, the funds used to respond to rural emergencies are quickly running dry.

“There’s been rapid development in the unincorporated areas of Hidalgo County, and that means our budget … to be able to reimburse the municipalities is being exhausted,” Isaac Sulemana, chief of staff for Judge Cortez, said.

Prior to calling for a May election on Tuesday, county leaders first had to get the go-ahead from any cities that would fall within the boundaries of the proposed ESDs.

Of all the cities in western Hidalgo County, only one — the city of Alton — opted to include its municipal boundaries as part of the proposed ESD 5 and ESD 6.

If approved, ESD 5 and 6 will also include the “ETJ,” or extraterritorial jurisdiction of the cities of Alton, La Joya, Mission and Palmhurst, in addition to any other unincorporated areas of Precinct 3.

Both ESDs will have identical boundary maps.

“We’re asking, hopefully, the taxpayers of that area, to govern themselves so they can provide that service for themselves,” Cortez said.

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