Rural Collin County residents will soon have an emergency services district to provide fire protection outside city limits.

Complete, unofficial returns in the Tuesday, Nov. 4, election show the proposal to create ESD-1 was favored by 6,594 voters or 72.57% of the total vote count of 9,086, Collin County Elections reported.

“The voters have spoken with a strong passage for the ESD,” said Precinct 3 Commissioner Darrell Hale.

There were 2,492 votes against ESD-1, or 27.43%. Results are not official until they are canvassed by commissioners.

“The Commissioners Court is going to follow through on our statement of principles … we want to support the existing fire districts, prevent double taxation and do everything we can to minimize costs and further support of our volunteer and city fire departments,” Hale said. 

The commissioner said the court will solicit applications and conduct interviews before making five appointments to the board, all of whom will live within the 75.5 square miles of unincorporated county that comprises the district.

The board will set a property tax on rural property, capped by state law at 10 cents per $100 valuation, to renegotiate contracts with city fire departments. The ESD’s first budget year will begin Oct. 1, 2026, Hale said.

“This will mean continuity of the great service they have received from their firemen and EMS now and into the future,” Hale said.

Since October 2013, the county has paid fire departments in 22 cities a total of $950,000 per year to provide emergency service to rural residents living outside the cities.

Melissa dropped their contract last year, and the cities of Princeton, McKinney, Wylie and Farmersville filed notice of termination effective Oct. 1 of this year, saying the county was not paying them enough to make runs into their extraterritorial jurisdictions (ETJs).

However, McKinney decided to continue service to rural residents for another year, and the Princeton City Council voted in July to extend service through the end of this month.

The election was called by commissioners after receiving a citizen petition to create the district.

The election had a 19% turnout of the 47,869 registered voters living outside city limits, Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux said. Election Day voting was 4,546, surpassing the 4,499 early votes and 41 mail ballots.

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