PUBLIC SAFETY Harris County ESD 9 approves salary increases, growth plans in 2023 budget
APPROVED BUDGET Harris County ESD No. 9’s scal year 2023 proposed budget aims to avoid any tax raises or additional expenses for the department. ESD 9 REVENUE FOR 2023 The ESD broke down expected revenue for the 2023 budget based on di erent revenue sources.
BY MIKAH BOYD
personnel in August. “As the number of volunteers are decreasing, currently what has to happen is the full-time or part- timer sta have to pick up those shifts when they’re not lled,” Ramon said Sept. 8. “If a part-time person doesn’t come in, a full-time or volunteer has to pick up those shifts. So we need to increase our sta ng to make sure that we don’t end up burning out all of our amazing people we have because there’s too many shifts for the number of people we have currently.” O cials said when sta ng levels are insu cient, taking over someone’s shift means an extra 24 hours on the job and away from home. “What’s going to happen is somebody’s going to end up working four days a week, four 24-hour shifts,” Ramon said. “That’s going to get old at some point, and they’re going to stop working the over- time shifts, and then your trucks are going to have to be put out of service because we don’t have the personnel, and I don’t want it to get to that place. I want to be proactive.” Seeking solutions To alleviate these challenges, Ramon said she decided to include an allotment for increasing sta ng in an amended budget presented at the Sept. 15 workshop. On top of this, Ramon advocated for funding to provide raises for sta members in hopes of keeping the department competitive and current employees content. “The reason that we’re here is the community, but the only way that the community gets taken care of is if the people who work here get taken care of,” Ramon said. “Because if they feel like they’re second class or if they’re not getting taken care of, then that attitude is going to be taken out on the citizens, and I don’t want that.” Ramon said she provided justi cation for the raises by tying it to annual U.S. Social Security Administration in ation reports with the 2023 cost of living projected to increase by about 10%. Outside of these additions, the approved budget will maintain revenue and minimize costs as the newly elected commissioners continue to perform audits and compile information for the creation of a master plan. According to Ramon, the department has had a plan that was orchestrated by previous commissioners and involved plotting the area’s growth and strategically placing re stations throughout Cy-Fair to ensure fast response times despite a large coverage area. “We’ve done a lot of growing over the past couple of years. ... Bringing on more personnel is what’s been required with all that, and we just hope to continue seeing that growth continue on to ensure that all these days, all the stations, all 13 stations remain sta ed and our sta is where they need to be,” Fillmore said.
The Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 board of commissioners approved an $82.4 million budget for scal year 2023, including 10% salary increases for sta , during a Sept. 15 workshop. The taxing district supports emergency services o ered by the Cy-Fair Fire Department, and o cials said they anticipate receiving about $85 million in revenue to support operations in the next scal year. Also included in plans for FY 2023 was $51 million in capital expenses, including land purchases for future stations in Towne Lake, Dunham Pointe and Bridgeland. While ESD No. 9 is not planning to increase the property tax rate in FY 2023, the newly formed budget committee’s initial proposal presented Aug. 25 did not include raises or additional per- sonnel in the 2023 budget. Commissioners Kevin Stertzel and Robert Paiva, who were elected to the board in May, serve on the budget committee along- side Fire Chief Amy Ramon, who pushed for raises for her sta during the budget planning process. “One of the things we’ve been keenly interested in since we were elected and sworn in was under- standing what exactly the department’s strategic plan is, and much to our disappointment, the department does not have a strategic plan,” Stertzel told Community Impact in a Sept. 2 interview. “So in absence of a plan, we thought it best to hold things steady, take the next few four to six months hopefully to assess where we need to go. Our goal is to make the department the premier department or premier ESD in the state.” A no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.049984 per $100 valuation was preliminarily accepted by the three newest commissioners, Naressa MacKinnon, Paiva and Stertzel, with Bevin Gordon and David Langen- berg in opposition at an Aug. 25 meeting. The board unanimously approved the no-new-revenue tax rate at its Sept. 22 meeting. Sta ng concerns Christopher Fillmore, the president of the Cy-Fair Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 5248, said he was concerned that not including raises in the budget would impact the department’s employees and ability to continue to grow with the community. “We’re not able to sta consistently every day with four or more on an apparatus is typically what we try to shoot for,” Fillmore said. “But there are some days where we have to drop down to three, so with the increase in sta ng, that [would] allow us to better have four on there, continuing to be competitive.” Concerns around burnout and the retention of employees also plague the department, Ramon said. The department reported 191 sta members for re suppression, 135 volunteers and 138 EMS
Sales tax: $51.8M Property tax: $26.7M EMS collections $6M Other: $468.6K
REVENUE TOTAL $85M
ESD 9 EXPENSES FOR 2023 The commissioners were provided a breakdown of expenses for 2023 based on department within the ESD.
Suppression: $22.6M
EMS: $16.6M
EXPENSES TOTAL $82.4M
Human resources/ accounting: $15M Quartermaster: $9M
IT: $2.9M
Communications: $3.1M Fleet maintenance: $3.3M Administration: $3.4M
Dispatch: $2.7M
Safety: $804.2K
Facilities maintenance: $2.5M
PR: $492.4K
Towne Lake Station & land: $11.2M Station 10 land & station: $11.2M Station 6 build: $9.2M Medics: $5.6M 2026 Engines: $5.6M ESD 9 CAPITAL EXPENSES FOR 2023 The commissioners were provided a breakdown of expenses for 2023 based on department within the ESD. CAPITAL EXPENSES TOTAL $51M
Harris county improvement: $2M Remodels of stations 3 & 8: $3M
Dunham Pointe land: $1.2M
Chief/Sta vehicles: $865K
Bridgeland land: $1.2M
FISCAL YEAR 2022 TOTAL OPERATING FUND AS OF JULY 31 $123.1 MILLION FISCAL YEAR 2023 TOTAL OPERATING FUND BY DEC. 31, 2023 $72.4 MILLION
ESTIMATED OPERATING FUND BY DEC. 31 $120.9 MILLION
2023 EXCESS OPERATING REVENUE OVER EXPENSES $2.6 MILLION
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT NO. 9 COMMUNITY IMPACT
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CY FAIR EDITION • OCTOBER 2022
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