County at odds with city over law

Bexar County Commissioners Court vowed to back emergency services districts in a battle against the city of San Antonio over debt caps that first responders say are putting county residents at risk.

Under state law, the city must approve any debt an emergency district can take on over $20,000. County officials said that’s delayed progress on a planned station for three years in ESD 5 on the county’s far Southwest Side. In that time, Robert Pierce, board secretary for the district, said the construction cost doubled from $1.5 million to $3 million.

“Bexar County is the only county in the state of Texas that has this restrictive cap,” Pierce told Commissioners Court.

But the assistant city manager overseeing governmental relations denies San Antonio is hindering the county’s efforts to provide fire and medical services in outlying areas through its 12 emergency services districts.

“We’re not interested in holding them back from providing emergency services. But in this case, an ESD that has sued us is in litigation and has not agreed to mutual aid agreements to help each other in emergency situations. We said no, and I guess they’ve gone a political route here,” said Assistant City Manager Jeff Coyle.

Commissioners Court passed a resolution stating the city “has exacerbated the situation by implementing a time-consuming process to request their consent” when the emergency districts sought to spend beyond the cap. The city pointed to state law when asked for comment.

The resolution said the city has “denied and/or delayed some ESDS’ request for funding” to build stations, purchase equipment and other “necessary items,” and “is jeopardizing the health, welfare and safety of the citizens” served by the districts in Bexar County.

“Every ESD is having problems going through this process to cover your constituents,” said Robert Hogan, fire chief with ESD 10.

With a fast-growing area along U.S. 90 West, ESD 5 has a station about 10-12 minutes away from newer homes that need faster service, officials said.

“They’re trying to build a station in that area, but they can’t get the approval from the city to have that funding, so therefore, it’s still taking 12 minutes,” Hogan said. “We’ve got paid personnel. We’ve got the right equipment in place, but we can’t get there because we can’t put a station nearby.”

Coyle said the city has reviewed 13 requests for funding above the cap and denied only one — a request from ESD 5, which is in litigation with the city over annexation of property in its district, to finance $17 million in improvements.

“Under state law, if we annex any portion of the ESD’S territory, we are responsible for the pro rata share of any outstanding

debt that they have. So basically, any debt that they take on could be an expense to the city in the future,” he said.

“They were asking us to take $17 million in debt to serve a number of areas that they’re claiming are not city of San Antonio territory. For that and a number of other reasons, we denied that request. It is the only ESD request we’ve ever denied in the past decade. So the suggestion that we are hindering ESDS’ abilities to borrow money and build fire stations is just not accurate.”

Coyle suggested the county could agree to back the debt and pay it off if the city annexed the property. Otherwise, he said, the city has to do its due diligence.

The cap dates to the creation of the first emergency district about 15 years ago, officials said. The Texas Health and Safety Code allows the city to limit the debt an emergency district can take to $20,000. The cap is intended to limit the debt the city would incur if it annexed part or all of an emergency district.

But leaders of the county’s ESDS said the city has stopped supporting those requests in recent years, slowing construction of fire stations and the purchase of trucks and other equipment in fast-growing areas of the county.

“Why did the city of San Antonio do this to our community?” Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert asked.

“I’ve heard that the city of San Antonio is canceling the intergovernmental relations meetings and things, but we need to keep those going. We very much need to keep that communication going. We need to work better together,” Calvert said.

Coyle said the city included at least two county commissioners at meetings of the council’s intergovernmental relations committee during the pandemic but has since stopped. He said the city plans to have briefings every three to six months “to figure out where we can work together and collaborate on issues.”

He defended the city’s action regarding ESD 5’s requests and said there have been no changes to the review process to delay the city’s responses.

“We’re not going to agree to consent to a $17 million debt issuance for property that the courts have agreed with us is San Antonio property and through which the ESD is continuing to fight us in the courts. If there wasn’t litigation, I think there’d be an opportunity for a more reasonable conversation about it. And we’ve communicated that to the ESD,” Coyle said.

ESD 5 and ESD 10 in the eastern part of the county have been the most vocal about the concerns.

Hogan said ESD 10 has been approved beyond the cap, up to $7.5 million.

“But I’ve got to build three more stations at a cost of about $3 million per station,” he said.

The ESDS have representatives in Austin this week, discussing a potential fix with legislators. Any bill removing the cap that’s approved would then likely have to go to county voters, Hogan said.

Better coordination with the city would help, he said.

“Cooperation, that’s what we’re looking for,” Hogan said.