Decision may affect emergency services in Edna

A critical decision to the taxpayers of the city of Edna and the Edna ISD is expected to be made at the Edna City Council meeting this evening.

The council will meet with members of the ESD3 board to discuss and decide the future of the Edna Fire Department.

After looking at last year’s budget and the condition of the city streets and infrastructure, Mayor Joe Hermes said the city cannot continue to lose money. The city dropped its tax rate last year to $.0756 per hundred valuation after it received a sizable check for back taxes by a local motel. The tax rate in 2013 was $.2084 and in 2012 was $.3084. The city dropped its tax rate by 10 cents in 2013 to compensate city residents for the additional tax they would pay to the ESD3, which was formed after voter approval in 2013 to handle fire and EMS for the residents of the Edna ISD. Consequently, the ESD3 signed a two-year contract with the City of Edna to provide those services through its paid Edna Fire Department.

The City of Edna gave $321,506 to the ESD3 in FY 2013-2014, and was budgeted to give another $350,961 in FY 2014-2015. The Edna Fire Department’s proposed budget for FY 2015-2016 requested $350,000 from the City, with another $588,935 expected from the ESD3 and expected revenue of $255,500, for a total proposed budget of $1.194 million.

Hermes has said the city cannot continue to spend $350,000 for the EFD without sacrificing work on streets and other areas of the city. 

The hospital district is prepared to take over ambulance service for the county. Currently, residents of the city of Edna are paying for EMS service through the hospital district taxes, City of Edna taxes and ESD 3 taxes.

If the city does not fund the EFD, the residents of Edna ISD will rely on the Edna Volunteer Fire Dept. for fire coverage. The cities of Ganado, El Campo, and Hallettsville have volunteer fire departments.

The City of Cuero, population approx. 7,000 has a paid fire department with six paid firefighters and 28 volunteers and the City of Port Lavaca with an estimated population of 12,000 has a fire department with 12 paid firefighters and 10 reserve. 

Members of the Edna Volunteer Fire Department are threatening to walk out if the city does not fund the EFD. They say the city will no longer have 24 hour fire protection and insurance rates will increase due to the lack of protection. They say there are only about 12 volunteers who respond to fires on a regular basis and that is only in the evenings. Only one of the volunteers works in the city limits during the day.

The volunteers rely on the full time crew for training, apparatus upkeep, and operations on emergency scenes. 

The discussion between the Edna Council and the ESD3 commissioners will be held in open session beginning at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Edna City Hall.