After months of contention and charges of personal attacks on both sides, last weekend, voters in the eastern portion of Taylor’s extraterritorial jurisdiction approved joining the county’s service area, which means saying goodbye to the century- old Avery Pickett Volunteer Fire Department.
But commissioners with Williamson County Emergency Services District No. 10, which received more than 60 percent approval from voters to annex the boot-shaped area, want residents to know this will not be a brand-new experience for the county.
“This is not new territory for ESD 10,” said board President Bob Avant. “We have been servicing that area for as long as ESD 10 has existed though mutual aid.”
An ESD is a tax-supported entity created by a public vote to provide fire protection and emergency medical services in a designated area. Most volunteer fire departments, however, raise revenue through charitable donations and activities such as Bingo, and do not have a full-time paid staff.
Since 2017, the Thrall and Coupland volunteer fire departments have had a contract with ESD No. 10 to provide first response, fire and rescue inside the district’s jurisdiction. Avant said before the county can take over, the ballots must be officially tallied at their monthly meeting May 17.
“Nothing can happen until the 17th,” Avant said. “We have to canvass the votes and then the board will act on it and then on the 17th, that annexed area will officially be part of ESD 10.”
Taylor Fire Department Chief Daniel Baum said the next steps for ESD 10 were likely to be an involved process, but the city is available to support them.
“We are happy to work with them,” Baum said. “I can’t speak on their behalf, but they have got a lot of leg work to do. They have to certify their election, canvass their votes, all that stuff, but the ball is in their court, and we look forward to working with them, as we (already) do now.”
Avant said ESD 10 is committed to working through these logistical details.
“What we are doing now is doing a scoping exercise to see what type of equipment is needed to make sure we have that area adequately covered and where do we place that equipment, what personnel will be required,” he said. “We have been doing that scoping exercise even before the election in the hopes that it would be positive, as it was.”
One issue is going to be a lack of funding in the short term for this additional equipment and personnel, Avant said.
“The only thing about this is we will not see one penny of ad valorum tax funds until January of 2025 because it won’t be on the tax rolls until Jan. 1 of 2024, and those are due at the end of the year, so we have got 18 months until that annexed area will be paying taxes,” Avant said. “(But) that’s just the name of the game. It’s a matter of timing and we are not going to let that hold us back from providing good responses and good coverage for that area.”
Avant said in the meantime, the county is seeking automatic aid agreements, including with Taylor FD, with whom they hope to “cooperate more closely.”
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of the discussions that Chief Moellenberg and Chief Baum are going to have to see how that is going to work,” Avant said.
“We have a number of different options out there for where we might place a fire truck or two, but we don’t know yet because we are having conversations with people who might be willing to host us until we can have the funds to build a substation,” Avant said.
Avant said ESD 10’s attorney is also reaching out to the attorney for Avery Pickett, which still will still be providing service to the northern and western portions of Taylor’s ETJ, to also work out a legal agreement for automatic aid, despite the heated exchanges during the election.
But Avant said the firefighters and commissioners are glad this election is over, and they are looking forward to serving the residents of the newly annexed area.
“It was a very, very frustrating experience, and I am glad that it is behind us,” Avant said. “Hopefully the gamesmanship will stop now, and we can get on to providing fire protection to the community. That is a relief. And it is gratifying that voters saw through the smokescreen.”
