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Dear Editor:
This letter is to express my thoughts regarding a very important election coming up here in Colorado County; the decision on forming a county wide Emergency Services District ( ESD).
My family and I are fairly new to Colorado County. We chose the Oakland community as our retirement home back in 2020. We bought a small farm that we are very proud of, have some of the best neighbors you could ask for, and we seek to spend our remaining days in retirement here.
I am not currently a firefighter, nor have I ever been one. I don’t have a dog in this hunt any more or less than any other of the wonderful folks that live in this county. A county, that based on my experience in local government, is well run, and responsive to the voice of its citizens.
But we understand living the rural life we love comes with certain risks, and one of those risks is less than premium emergency response services. Not by anyone’s intent, but by a simple function of labor, materials, and funding. But what if we can up the ante?
I have spent the last 38 years working as a purchasing agent for several small cities and governmental purchasing cooperatives across the state of Texas. In those years, I have worked with some incredibly brave and selfless firefighters (both professional and volunteer) in these small communities. While I know a bit about dollars and cents and getting a good deal on the equipment they used, they taught me a lot about why they used it.
In my work I learned that a new pumper truck that cost $400,000 thirty years ago can cost over $1 million today. That is for just one of those relatively small trucks that respond to an emergency. The big ladder trucks will triple that figure.
I also learned that workers comp and general liability insurance rates for firefighters are among the highest in the industry and that running out of oxygen for only a few minutes in that aging self-contained breathing apparatus will cost a strong young man a lifelong disability, as well as countless other lessons.
Like so many wonderful folks in these communities, we look forward to enjoying a great meal at the periodic fundraising BBQs, and we try to donate some spare cash to assist when possible. But it takes selling an awful lot of brisket and kolaches just to pay for the required periodic testing of one truck’s fire hose, not to mention the mandated replacement of the same hose in its short lifespan.
We all feel the pinch of inflation and the rising cost of so many things. None of us enjoy paying the tax man come year’s end. But the Texas statute does afford us citizen voters to make some decisions on what tax revenues we value and for what purposes we choose to use them. Many of our residents are elderly on fixed incomes and the added property tax is a big deal to them.
But if that tax can result in more rescues for someone alone and trapped in their burning home, and fewer call outs for the justice of the peace, I think that is a fantastic trade off. In my book, an opportunity to contribute a small amount of extra tax to improve the quality of life is an easy choice to make.
A vote in favor of the ESD will allow the VFDs the opportunity to generate significant, game changing revenue to help make huge strides in improving emergency services in this place we call home.
Detailed information about ESDs is readily accessible on the Texas State Association of Fire and Emergency Districts website: www.safe-d.org or from any of your local volunteer fire chiefs. I encourage you to educate yourselves about this important topic and cast your vote as you see fit.
I was born and raised in a rural community and have spent nearly sixty years living in several where emergency response was nothing much beyond the barebones of volunteers and old aging equipment. But for my family, like others in this community, it’s also personal.
I have shed many a tear for 25 plus years over the loss of a sweet and wonderful little girl in an incident where a small town fire department’s lack of adequate resources may have been the difference between watching her grow up to have a family of her own today instead of being the forever precious child of the angels that watches over us.
There is for certain a fear of raising taxes for more government. I am always the first in line in that group, especially having been a part of the workings of government for so many years. I have seen how the sausage gets made.
Based on current assessed values, a full 10 cent rate, the maximum that could be adopted, would raise roughly $3.5 million annually. Sounds like a lot, but it takes a lot to get our volunteers the tools they need to keep our homes, businesses, travelers safely through town, and most importantly, our families safe.
Also, keep in mind that the ESD will be governed by a board of individuals appointed by, among others, our elected county officials and will be subject to financial audits. I for one am very confident that there are more than enough well rounded, responsible individuals in this county that can serve in this essential oversight capacity.
We have all heard the old saying that nothing in life is certain but “death and taxes.” But wouldn’t it be a shame to let the fear of the ESD tax contribute to an early death for another unfortunate family? Your neighbor down the road,
Charlie Oberrender
