Collin County residents who don’t live in cities will be asked whether the county should create an emergency services district (ESD) to provide fire protection, financed by taxes on their property.

Following a Monday, July 28 hearing in McKinney, Collin County Commissioners voted 5-0 to put the issue on the Tuesday, Nov. 4, general election ballot.

The commissioners were acting on a petition to create ESD-1 to serve residents in the 75.5 square miles of unincorporated area.

Since October 2013, the county has paid fire departments in 22 cities a total of $950,000 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 have filed notice of termination effective Oct. 1 of this year, saying the county was not paying them enough to make runs into their extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

However, County Judge Chris Hill said recently that McKinney had decided to continue service to rural residents for another year.

If approved by voters in November, the newly formed ESD will be governed by a board of five directors appointed by the county.

“Those directors must live and pay taxes in the district,” Hill said. “The board will be responsible for overseeing the annual budget of the district and for providing fire and emergency services to the district with the taxes collected. The county will work with the ESD board to transition the responsibilities effective Oct. 1, 2026.”

Princeton Fire Chief Shannon Stephens said at the May 27 city council meeting that the county pays the city $150 for each service run outside the city limits — about one-tenth to one-fifteenth of the actual cost incurred.

Stephens said the city had separate contracts with Municipal Utility District (MUD) No. 2 that incudes Bridgewater and Tillage Farms, The Hollow, The Haven, Cypress Creek, Alcove, Acorn North and Acorn South developments as well as Lowry Crossing MUD No. 1.

If voters approve the ESD in November, the commissioners court would appoint a five-member governing board authorized to tax property in the ETJ to provide rural fire and emergency service.

Since it would take a year for the tax money to be collected, the ESD would not take over the contracts with the partnering cities until October 2026. Before then, Collin County would continue to fund the service contracts with the city fire departments still participating, Hill said.

If the ESD proposal is defeated, citizens living in the county could organize and fund volunteer fire departments such as the one in Branch that became Princeton Firehouse No. 4.

“I pledge that I will personally support and assist each and every new volunteer fire department that is created,” Hill said. “I want every Collin County family to have excellent fire and emergency services. If those families choose the volunteer fire department model, then I will help them.”

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