Oppose ESD on May 2025 Ballot - No New Property taxes!
MAXIE ZINSMEISTER

Oppose ESD on May 2025 Ballot - No New Property taxes!

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MAXIE ZINSMEISTER
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SECOND BITE AT THE APPLE: Unsuccessful bid to create new taxing district in 2022 re-emgerges and seeks election day with historically lower voter turnout!

In November 2022, a proposition authorizing the creation of an Emergency Services District (ESD) and the imposition of a new property tax was placed on the General Election ballot. The proposition was defeated with 54% against and 46% in favor.

Now, the Bergheim Volunteer Fire Department is requesting the same proposition be placed on a May 2025 ballot. For this proposition to be put before the voters, the Kendall County Commissioners Court must approve the request. The Court has set February 11, 2025, for a public hearing to allow voters of Kendall County to express their support or opposition to the proposition being placed on a May 2025 ballot. Many citizens may not have the ability to attend this hearing. You may voice your opposition to having ESD on the May 2025 ballot by signing this petition.

REASONS TO VOTE AGAINST THE ESD BEING ON THE MAY 2025 BALLOT

  • The facts and implications of the ESD have not changed since 2022 so there is no compelling reason to support it now.
  • Being on the May 2025 ballot gives it a greater chance of passing than it would in a November election when a larger group of voters go to the polls.
  • This proposition was defeated once, why would it be allowed back on the ballot when key questions like those below, still have not been answered? They've had since 2022 to provide detailed information to voters but despite all of these years so many questions remain. Why?
  • Kendall County Commissioner’s Court recently announced that the County is going to do a survey to educate the public about current firefighting services and to get input from citizens about these services.
  • Before citizens are forced to vote on an ESD, give the county time to run the survey, analyze the results and educate voters on the issues around forming and funding an ESD.
  • It is expensive to run a special election in May (which voters will have to fund) and could cost up to $25K.
  • Support putting the ESD on the ballot in November 2025.

REASONS THIS VOTE SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED: Means a HUGE tax increase, double taxation, elderly impacted, taxation without representation, and a county-wide solution needs to be assessed!

Double taxation and a NEW property tax that is equivalent to a 26% increase in Kendall County Taxes

  • Every year, Kendall County directs more money to all six Volunteer Fire Departments (VFD) in Kendall County, as well as to the Boerne Professional Fire Department, to assist with capital and operational expenses.
  • The County has budgeted for four (4) full-time firefighters that may respond as needed to assist the County VFD’s with dedicated onsite coverage. As of today, the BVFD is not participating in this program, despite the county’s offer to place two of these firefighters in the Bergheim station. BVFD is turning down paid county firefighting resources for their station, yet they claim that they don’t have enough firefighters.
  • Despite these investments by the county, Bergheim VFD is requesting to form an ESD.
  • If the ESD is created, property owners within the district boundary could face a tax increase of as much as $0.10 per $100 (maximum allowed by statute) of assessed property value (e.g. $1MM property = $1,000 per year of new taxes).
  • This is in addition to the current county tax of $0.3827 per $100 (e.g. $1MM property = $3,827) of assessed property values, some of which goes to support county-wide VFDs.
  • This new ESD special tax would be equivalent to a whopping 26% increase in our Kendall County taxes!

Impact on the elderly

  • Like many in our community, one good thing about reaching the age of 65 is the fact that your property taxes are subject to freezing! Special taxing districts such as this ESD are not subject to freezing. As the market value assessed on your property continues to increase, your ESD taxes will also increase based on the higher assessed property values.

Taxation without representation

  • The ESD will be governed by five commissioners appointed by the Kendall County Commissioners Court. They are not elected so there is no recourse to address shortcomings of the ESD commissioners unless or until they are replaced by the county commissioners. This essentially equates to taxation without representation. Taxpayers need to understand an ESD is a new taxing entity and they will be giving enormous power to individuals that are not elected.

Ambulance runs FAR exceed fire runs

  • Less than 10 percent of all runs by the Bergheim VFD are to fight fires. The vast majority (over 50%) of their runs are to accompany EMS vehicles in the event the firefighters are needed for rescue or assistance. The rest of their calls are mainly public assistance, service calls or false alarms.
  • The Bergheim VFD sends out a fire department crew and vehicle most every time there is an ambulance call. They are also backfilling for Boerne’s paid firefighters when Boerne doesn’t have enough manpower to man the station. No wonder BVFD claims they don’t have enough staff!
  • Bergheim VFD's main justification for an ESD is their call/run volumes are high. It is easy to inflate these runs when the VFD dispatches every time there is an ambulance run.
  • In essence, taxpayers and supporters are paying for firefighters to be Emergency Medical Service assistants. This is an important point because the County already pays for EMS personnel, and all residents of the county share that tax burden. When an ESD is formed, then only those few residents in that district will bear the burden of paying for professional firefighters who are really acting as EMS personnel.
  • The BVFD is trying to scare us into thinking that our homes are going to burn down because their staff is stretched too thin. However, if the VFD were not ambulance chasing, staff would be available to fight fires.

Actions you can take now

  • Take the County survey!
  • Check on county map to see if your property is located in the proposed Bergheim ESD - District1 https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/fac18a6ca1d740e097b3d54eb78cb0b2/
  • Demand your questions get answered before being forced to vote. Some of the key questions are summarized below.
  • Sign this petition to show you are opposed to this ESD being on the May 2025 ballot.

KEY QUESTIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN ADDRESSED

  • Which provisions of the Health and Safety Code are applicable to this ESD and which of the provisions are planned for implementation?
  • What are the detailed pro-forma capital and operating budgets for next 3 - 5 years to justify such a significant increase in taxes? (e.g. How many personnel? What are the salaries by level? What are the benefit costs? How do the proposed salaries compare to other professional firefighter salaries / benefits in the area?)
  • What grant money has been secured in the past two years?
  • What are the planned fund raising programs for the next two years?
  • Will the 3% early payment discount apply to ESD taxes? Is it possible to freeze property tax valuations for seniors under an ESD tax?
  • Who are the candidates to be nominated for the ESD board?
  • What is the breakdown of all call numbers by type for 2024? What is the detailed data for only runs inside District 1?
  • In 2024, how many runs were first responder calls and to what districts? On the first responder calls, what was the average number of people who responded? How many of those calls had patient care administered prior to EMS arrival?
  • What is the current recruitment program?
  • Why was The Crossing Subdivision added to BVFD area when the station was already stretched thin?
  • What is the current ISO rating and what needs to be done to improve it? Will that impact insurance rates?
  • What is BVFD doing to encourage developers / HOAs to reduce fire risk? (e.g. installing fire hydrants, restrictions on cutting / clearing fuel)?
  • Is the money received from Kendall County proportionate to the taxes collected from the area or is it just 1/7 of the county's firefighter budget?
  • If taxpayers believe greater investments should be made in firefighting, then why doesn’t the county form one or two ESDs across the entire county so all taxpayers share equitably in the tax burden? Especially since these VFD’s don’t just provide services within their districts. They help across the county.

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