Breaking down Proposition A
Proposition A on the ballot in Wimberley is a proposal to increase the maximum allowable ad valorem tax rate for Hays County Emergency Services District #4, which funds Wimberley Fire and Rescue. The current cap is five cents per $100 of taxable property value.
“In 2008 the district had a vote to set the cap at $0.05 per one hundred-dollar ($100) valuation,” Wimberley Fire Chief Carroll Czichos said. “At that time, the district thought that would last us for some time. Over the last 13 years, the district has gradually increased our tax to the cap of $0.05, which is the current rate we have now.”
Proposition A would allow that cap to increase to ten cents per $100 valuation. It would not increase the tax rate to that amount, but it would allow the emergency services district to go up to that amount if the district’s board deemed it was necessary.
“It is this opinion of the HCESD4’s Board of Commissioners that due to our community’s rapidly growing population and residential development, and in order to meet current and future financial demands to responsibly provide a robust Wimberley Fire Rescue firefighting department and fire prevention education unit, HCESD4 will likely need the ability to propose a higher annual tax rate in the future,” a press release from Wimberley Fire and Rescue said.
“HCESD4 can only incrementally raise the annual tax rate based on district property values, and with the passage of Proposition A to raise the tax rate cap.”
The fire department began transitioning from a volunteer fire department into one with a paid staff. In the last three years, the department has gone to a fully commissioned fire department. Three shifts of three firefighters work 48-hours with 96-hours off currently serve the Wimberley community and are supplemented by volunteers.
“With this staffing, the response times to most calls is less than eight minutes,” Czichos said. “The call volume has gone up from 389 calls a year to a projected number of over 800 this year.”
Wimberley Fire has 135 square miles of territory that reaches areas even beyond the direct Wimberley Valley.
The firehouse is in the beginning stages of being expanded and renovated to make room for the live-in firefighters when on duty.
Czichos also said that the potential additional funds would begin to help replace “first out” fire trucks of which the newest is 17 years old.
“A one-half cent increase in tax rate would go a long way to acquiring better equipped and more dependable apparatus, as well as hire three additional fulltime firefighters to be prepared to serve this community during emergencies, fires and floods,” he said.
Early voting is underway at the Wimberley Community Center and Scudder Primary. Election Day is November 2.