The North Hays County Emergency Services District #1 has called for a proposition to be placed on the ballot for the May 6 election. If approved, this proposition would authorize the district to raise the ad valorem tax rate cap up to the state maximum rate of $0.10.
North Hays County ESD #1, also known as North Hays EMS, serves 244 square miles across Dripping Springs, Driftwood and Henly. It currently collects an ad valorem tax of $0.03 per every $ 100 and a sales tax of 0.5% to fund its two full-time and two parttime ambulances across three stations. Now, the district is asking for the opportunity to acquire additional funding in order to expand to four full-time ambulances, one part-time ambulance and five stations by the end of the decade.
“Right now, we’re just asking for the authority to increase the tax cap to the state maximum,” explained District Administrator Doug Fowler. “We don’t intend to go that high, but if we’re successful in May, we can ask to raise the ad valorem tax rate to four or five cents in November.”
The proposition on the ballot in May does not ask for a tax increase, he clarified, but, if approved, would allow North Hays EMS to ask for one in the future.
“We’ve been capped at the three-cent rate for 26 years,” Fowler explained. “We’ve been operating on a low budget for a long time, and it’s showing. We need to do better.”
“With the way the area has been growing recently, we’re not able to respond as quickly as we would like — or as quickly as people need us to,” he continued. “It’s only getting worse as congestion increases to the corners of our district; development isn’t just along the [US Highway] 290 corridor anymore.”
Increasing the tax cap for a potential tax increase in the future would provide a means for the district to improve its response times, Fowler said. North Hays EMS’ current plans project an improvement in response times from 10–11 minutes (the national standard) for 65% of the service area to 10–11 minutes for 90% of the service area.
“Areas to the north and south west can expect longer response times right now — often around 30 minutes,” he said. “If all ambulances are in use, people might have to wait on units from Kyle — even if they’re all the way up on Hamilton Pool Road.”
The district’s longrange plans outline distributing the station response areas by moving existing stations and building new ones, adding additional housed ambulances and full-time personnel and maintaining a regular equipment replacement and refit schedule for existing and new equipment.
If voters do not approve the authorization proposition on the May 6 ballot, North Hays EMS will be unable to call for an authorization to increase the ad valorem tax rate in a subsequent election to meet the increased operational costs, “which could necessitate dipping into existing capital reserves and potentially operate at a deficit even without addressing the desired goals outlined above,” according to district documents.
“The meat of the subject is this,” Fowler said, “if residents feel that it is important to get an ambulance in 10–11 minutes, they should vote for the proposition.”
