05/26/2026
THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ESD IN RURAL VFD:
To the citizens of Swift-Shady Grove, surrounding areas, and citizens all across Texas…
You hear Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) members talk about needing this Emergency Services District (ESD). Most people look at it as an unnecessary tax and have a plethora of negative things to say about it. There’s the argument that fish fries and raffles should be enough to run the VFD. Let me be clear, It is not. We do two fundraisers a year and bring in less than $2,000 per event. An ESD, which will cost the homeowner roughly 10 pennies per hundred dollar value of their tax appraisal in Property Tax increase, will be dedicated funding for the VFD.
(Tax assessor says your place is appraised at $150,000 you would pay $150 a year. This data is accessible on your county tax assessor website. Take your appraised value, divide it by 100 and multiple it by .10)
Why do I make this post? To bring awareness of the lack of funding in the VFDs. Funding that allows the departments to operate. Funding that can solve issues like the ones that have happened to us in the past month.
This is where the transparency of your community VFD comes in.
We are a department of 4 apparatus. One pumper, one tanker, one large brush truck, and one small brush truck. In the past 30 days, here’s what’s happened.
The engine, the main vehicle for fires and wrecks, when cranked for its weekly maintenance and check in two weeks ago began hemorrhaging oil and water out of the motor. Most likely an issue that will cost thousands to fix. Truck is out of service.
The large brush truck, when operated last night for its weekly check in, the motor for the pump had a catastrophic failure and needs to be replaced. Thousands of dollars. Truck is out of service.
The small brush truck, while running for training, the housing for the pump cracked in half. That pump is no longer made and a new one is required. It also has an electrical issue so bad that we don’t know if it’ll crank from day to day. Thousands of dollars to fix. Truck is out of service.
We are down to a single truck. Just one to attempt to provide service with. Is there a thought in anyone’s mind that we have the money to fix these things out of pocket? I can absolutely assure you we do not. Not even remotely close. The repairs of these things alone are more than our annual budget. This doesn’t even begin to take in to consideration rising fuel costs, light bill, tire replacement, and every other basic cost we have to spend just to operate. We haven’t even touched equipment needs yet.
Thank God we received grants earlier in the year from the Texas Forest service to replace the pumps and tanks on these older brush trucks and for a new tanker all together. We got lucky is what happened. The grace of God saved the day that we had these failures when we had grant money coming in.
ESD funding allows for continual funding coming in to keep trucks on the road, not have to piece parts together to maintain old dilapidated equipment, replace equipment as needed, have good preventive maintenance plans in place, and provide the best service we can to the community who needs us.
Keep this in mind when people ask for support to organize an ESD.
