Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:47:00
Petition Accepted; ESD Faces Dissolution Election
GRAND SALINE—Supporters of Van Zandt County Emergency Services District (ESD) No. 2 outmanned dissolution election supporters by a 4-1 margin Monday night at a public hearing.
The only margin that mattered was 4-0 — the vote by the ESD’s own board of directors to have a dissolution election anyway.
Despite more than 90 minutes of public comments dominated by district residents wanting to guarantee the entity’s continued existence, there will be a Nov. 2 election with that matter hanging in the balance.
After two previous failed attempts by petition signers asking for a dissolution vote, the third time acted as the charm. Directors Doyle Milliorn, Mary Ann Fisher, John Robison and Sid Shuemake took less than five minutes after the end of the public hearing to vote to accept the petition and hold an election.
Ray Carnes, who voted against a similar petition in September last year, abstained from voting this time.
ESD supporters dispersed quickly, but not without a few of them letting their feelings be known with boos and comments of disgust with the board members. One unidentified person shouted “Hail, Caesar!” — a sarcastic comment aimed at board president Milliorn.
“This petition was signed by more than half of the people who voted in the first election,” Milliorn said in defending the decision.
As for the public hearing, the words from ESD supporters were just as passionate as they tried to state a case for denying a petition signed by 495 of the more than 3,000 district residents.
Grand Saline Volunteer Fire Department Chief Craig Lott, who led off the hearing, called the petition “a slap in the face” to the firefighters of his department and ambulance service personnel.
“I have never seen anything like this where people didn’t want something to help them,” he said.
With assistant fire chief George Coffman standing nearby, Lott pointed to a table full of safety and firefighting equipment on display that had been purchased with ESD tax revenue during the past two years.
Grand Saline City Council member Rex White, speaking as a resident of the ESD, noted the 9-cent per $100 valuation tax rate currently levied by the ESD would have to inflate to 27 cents if the city of Grand Saline were to try to provide the same funding on its own.
Aside from financial arguments, several people at the hearing gave personal testimony of having their lives or the lives of family members saved by the fast response time of ambulance and fire protection stationed in Grand Saline.
Eric Menasco, who suffered a seizure one year ago, went to the microphone in his wheelchair and testified that his life was saved in that instance by the Grand Saline EMTs who responded to his home.
“If not for them doing their job, I would be in worse shape than I am now,” Menasco said. “That’s saying a lot.” He later added most ESD residents could be “up the creek without a paddle” if the ESD were dissolved.
Carla Milliorn, the health sciences and technology teacher at Grand Saline High School and a niece by marriage to board president Doyle Milliorn, talked about the importance of the equipment purchased through ESD funding to her program.
“The only way I can teach EMT students at Grand Saline High School is that our fire department and ambulance service comes to the high school and shares their knowledge and their equipment with our kids,” she said.
“They (EMT students) are our future, and I think it is shameful to have our fire department out at the side of the road with a boot out asking for handouts so they can buy equipment,” said Milliorn.
However, supporters of the petition could not be swayed from what they said were too many illegal or improper actions in the 2006 election that created the ESD. Many of them reiterated claims of being denied a vote or knowing of people who did not live in the district who did vote.
“When is it legal for someone to vote for a tax when they do not live inside the area that is to be taxed?” asked Glenda Jennings. “I do not understand why the 2006 election was allowed to stand with the improprieties that took place.”
Robert Bates said he first was told that his property was outside the district boundary lines, but later learned that it was, in fact, inside the district.
He said the 2006 election was filled with actions he described as “illegal and unethical,” and added, “Denying me my right to vote tops the list.”
James Lea, delivering one of the more fiery speeches of the evening in arguing for a denial of the petition, countered the arguments of petition supporters.
“I know you (directors) have caught flak, I know (Precinct 1 Commissioner) Ricky (LaPrade) has caught flak, I know everyone has caught flak. You want it to end. I know the temptation is to say, ‘Well, let’s have another election, then they can’t bitch because they didn’t get to vote,’
“I’m sorry they didn’t. I think it is a horror not to get to vote, to be told that you can’t vote in an election you should be able to vote in. But the fire department did not do that, the ESD did not do that, this board did not do that....An election four years ago is not a reason to dissolve a fully functional ESD that is doing exactly what it is supposed to do and is getting better every day.”
Lea also talked about the tax money that goes to the ESD, emphasizing the volunteer status of the fire department.
“It (ESD) is protecting the 500 people who signed this petition right along with the 2,800 or so who did not sign the petition. The tax we’re talking about is not a lot of money...5 percent of the property taxes, the ad valorem taxes that you pay here in Van Zandt County, goes to the ESD if you live in the country. If you live in the city, 3.75 percent of the taxes you pay goes to support our ambulance and our firemen.
“That is our volunteer firemen. This money isn’t going into their pockets,” he added.
More than one reference was made to the possibility that residents outside the city limits of Grand Saline could find themselves without fire and ambulance services from Grand Saline if the district is dissolved.
ESD backer Jeanne Ann Lea commented, “We could be headed for a big gamble.”
Ann Elder said she was not comforted by the thought of fire and ambulance services having to come from another provider for residents outside the Grand Saline city limits.
“Are they going to know these roads like the Grand Saline volunteer firemen know them? I doubt it,” she said.
Grand Saline City Administrator Stephen Ashley stopped short of confirming the rural areas would have to go elsewhere for emergency services if the ESD was dissolved, but he made no bones about the current budget situation for the city.
“I can tell you right now property taxes are down, sales tax income is down, franchise fees are down...One area where I don’t have a tremendous concern is our emergency services because we do have an ESD that helps us to fund that,” he said. “Without that, I don’t know where we would be at this point in time. We would be in more desperate trouble than we are at this point.”
At least one reference was made during the hearing to the possibility of residents outside the city limits being put in a similar situation to rural residents around Canton. The city of Canton, unable to reach a new agreement with Van Zandt County for fire department services last year, stopped taking its fire trucks outside the city limits.
Van Zandt County reached an agreement with South Van Zandt Volunteer Fire Department to put a substation in Canton and answer calls in the affected area.
The only margin that mattered was 4-0 — the vote by the ESD’s own board of directors to have a dissolution election anyway.
Despite more than 90 minutes of public comments dominated by district residents wanting to guarantee the entity’s continued existence, there will be a Nov. 2 election with that matter hanging in the balance.
After two previous failed attempts by petition signers asking for a dissolution vote, the third time acted as the charm. Directors Doyle Milliorn, Mary Ann Fisher, John Robison and Sid Shuemake took less than five minutes after the end of the public hearing to vote to accept the petition and hold an election.
Ray Carnes, who voted against a similar petition in September last year, abstained from voting this time.
ESD supporters dispersed quickly, but not without a few of them letting their feelings be known with boos and comments of disgust with the board members. One unidentified person shouted “Hail, Caesar!” — a sarcastic comment aimed at board president Milliorn.
“This petition was signed by more than half of the people who voted in the first election,” Milliorn said in defending the decision.
As for the public hearing, the words from ESD supporters were just as passionate as they tried to state a case for denying a petition signed by 495 of the more than 3,000 district residents.
Grand Saline Volunteer Fire Department Chief Craig Lott, who led off the hearing, called the petition “a slap in the face” to the firefighters of his department and ambulance service personnel.
“I have never seen anything like this where people didn’t want something to help them,” he said.
With assistant fire chief George Coffman standing nearby, Lott pointed to a table full of safety and firefighting equipment on display that had been purchased with ESD tax revenue during the past two years.
Grand Saline City Council member Rex White, speaking as a resident of the ESD, noted the 9-cent per $100 valuation tax rate currently levied by the ESD would have to inflate to 27 cents if the city of Grand Saline were to try to provide the same funding on its own.
Aside from financial arguments, several people at the hearing gave personal testimony of having their lives or the lives of family members saved by the fast response time of ambulance and fire protection stationed in Grand Saline.
Eric Menasco, who suffered a seizure one year ago, went to the microphone in his wheelchair and testified that his life was saved in that instance by the Grand Saline EMTs who responded to his home.
“If not for them doing their job, I would be in worse shape than I am now,” Menasco said. “That’s saying a lot.” He later added most ESD residents could be “up the creek without a paddle” if the ESD were dissolved.
Carla Milliorn, the health sciences and technology teacher at Grand Saline High School and a niece by marriage to board president Doyle Milliorn, talked about the importance of the equipment purchased through ESD funding to her program.
“The only way I can teach EMT students at Grand Saline High School is that our fire department and ambulance service comes to the high school and shares their knowledge and their equipment with our kids,” she said.
“They (EMT students) are our future, and I think it is shameful to have our fire department out at the side of the road with a boot out asking for handouts so they can buy equipment,” said Milliorn.
However, supporters of the petition could not be swayed from what they said were too many illegal or improper actions in the 2006 election that created the ESD. Many of them reiterated claims of being denied a vote or knowing of people who did not live in the district who did vote.
“When is it legal for someone to vote for a tax when they do not live inside the area that is to be taxed?” asked Glenda Jennings. “I do not understand why the 2006 election was allowed to stand with the improprieties that took place.”
Robert Bates said he first was told that his property was outside the district boundary lines, but later learned that it was, in fact, inside the district.
He said the 2006 election was filled with actions he described as “illegal and unethical,” and added, “Denying me my right to vote tops the list.”
James Lea, delivering one of the more fiery speeches of the evening in arguing for a denial of the petition, countered the arguments of petition supporters.
“I know you (directors) have caught flak, I know (Precinct 1 Commissioner) Ricky (LaPrade) has caught flak, I know everyone has caught flak. You want it to end. I know the temptation is to say, ‘Well, let’s have another election, then they can’t bitch because they didn’t get to vote,’
“I’m sorry they didn’t. I think it is a horror not to get to vote, to be told that you can’t vote in an election you should be able to vote in. But the fire department did not do that, the ESD did not do that, this board did not do that....An election four years ago is not a reason to dissolve a fully functional ESD that is doing exactly what it is supposed to do and is getting better every day.”
Lea also talked about the tax money that goes to the ESD, emphasizing the volunteer status of the fire department.
“It (ESD) is protecting the 500 people who signed this petition right along with the 2,800 or so who did not sign the petition. The tax we’re talking about is not a lot of money...5 percent of the property taxes, the ad valorem taxes that you pay here in Van Zandt County, goes to the ESD if you live in the country. If you live in the city, 3.75 percent of the taxes you pay goes to support our ambulance and our firemen.
“That is our volunteer firemen. This money isn’t going into their pockets,” he added.
More than one reference was made to the possibility that residents outside the city limits of Grand Saline could find themselves without fire and ambulance services from Grand Saline if the district is dissolved.
ESD backer Jeanne Ann Lea commented, “We could be headed for a big gamble.”
Ann Elder said she was not comforted by the thought of fire and ambulance services having to come from another provider for residents outside the Grand Saline city limits.
“Are they going to know these roads like the Grand Saline volunteer firemen know them? I doubt it,” she said.
Grand Saline City Administrator Stephen Ashley stopped short of confirming the rural areas would have to go elsewhere for emergency services if the ESD was dissolved, but he made no bones about the current budget situation for the city.
“I can tell you right now property taxes are down, sales tax income is down, franchise fees are down...One area where I don’t have a tremendous concern is our emergency services because we do have an ESD that helps us to fund that,” he said. “Without that, I don’t know where we would be at this point in time. We would be in more desperate trouble than we are at this point.”
At least one reference was made during the hearing to the possibility of residents outside the city limits being put in a similar situation to rural residents around Canton. The city of Canton, unable to reach a new agreement with Van Zandt County for fire department services last year, stopped taking its fire trucks outside the city limits.
Van Zandt County reached an agreement with South Van Zandt Volunteer Fire Department to put a substation in Canton and answer calls in the affected area.