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ESD or NOT ESD That is the Question
I live in a town in East Texas yesterday on election day we on the VFD had an ESD to be voted on for the people to decide whether or not they were going to allow an increase of up to 10 cents per 100 dollars on their property taxes. Well needless to say are ESD lost because the people in the community did not get the right info and thought that it was just because we wanted to charge them for responding to their calls. Now because of this my Department may have to close their doors because we do not have the funds or the support any more. What if anything can I do to keep this from happening?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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Around here we call that a referendum. You may have to ensure that the people get the proper info as to what the increase in proprty taxes will mean to them. We went through this a few years back with my Fire Protection District. We got voted down twice, before we finally told the residents that we would be closing 1 of our 3 stations for 3 months at a time before re-opening it and closing down a different station for 3 months. Once they realized that response times would be longer when the station nearest them was closed, they voted FOR the referendum! Best of luck, the trick is getting the right information out to the people.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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I have no idea what an ESD is, maybe the voters didn't, either. Perhaps clarity?
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Permalink Reply by Justin Fontenot on
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An ESD is just shortened it stands for Emergency Service District basically they put a small increase on property taxes to fund the VFD's. In turn it ables us to purchase gear scba's etc to better serve the community
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Thanks Brian I will bring this up to the chief at are meeting
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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A big problem your department faced was having the proposition on the general election ballot. This is never a good idea. The measure would have had a better chance of passing if it had been held during a special election. Texas has very specific dates in which elections may be held, so it is important to have an attorney who is well versed in election laws guide the process.
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