PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — On Wednesday, some Pflugerville city leaders and Travis County commissioners rallied against Proposition A, which would take away a half-cent of sales tax from ESD 2, also known as Pflugerville Fire Department.
Beers in hand, many gathered to discuss a battle at Pflugerville ballot boxes, Prop A.
"If the ballot measure fails and that money is taken away from the ESD, it will be a really, really tragic day for the city," said Victor Gonzales, Pflugerville mayor.
The mayor of Pflugerville, PfISD board member Charlie Torres and area Travis County Commissioners Jeff Travillion and Brigid Shea all rallied together to say "vote no" to Proposition A.
"This is a nationally recognized fire department," said Shea.
The opponents said the district would lose $17 million, which would cause a ripple effect:
- Defund their fire department by 40%
- Close three to four local fire stations
- Lay off 130 firefighters and ESD fire department employees
- Slow emergency response times to medical and fire calls
- Increase residential and commercial property insurance by 30% to 50%
"This would be the largest layoff of firefighters in the United States in 25 years," said Shea.
Trevor Stokes, president of the Professional Firefighters Association, said ESD 2 is an ISO 1, which is the highest rating given to fire departments by insurance. He said if the department's performance falls, home insurance coverage could go up.
"So if you own a home, a business within our district, you will see an immediate increase in your home insurance policies," said Stokes. "So it's not a savings."
A local group who supports Prop A said they don't want to take anything from ESD 2.
"If the city just gives them back that same amount, nobody needs to get laid off, nobody needs to get fired," said taxpayer Anthony Nguyen.
They said they want to see the city reallocate that money back to the fire district and buy back public EMS services from ESD 2 instead of using the current private ambulance service, Allegiance Mobile Health, but this time have the city manage the services instead of Travis County.
"This Prop A allows the city to be in a better negotiating standpoint to tell them, 'If you want the $15 million, then you need to provide the same level of service that you did for five years back to the city of Pflugerville,'" said Nguyen.
Nguyen said to make that happen, there will need to be another election so voters can decide to reallocate that money back to the district, if ESD2 is on board.
The battle over ambulance services has been going on for years, and many said November's election most likely won't be the end of it.