City extends olive branch as dispute over emergency services district debt cap plays out in Austin

The city is making it easier for emergency services districts to take on debt after being criticized by county officials who said San Antonio is slowing down major projects.

At the same time, legislation is being considered that, if adopted by the Texas Legislature, would strip the city of its longstanding ability to place debt conditions on Bexar County’s 12 emergency services districts.

Under state law, San Antonio can require ESDs to get City Council approval to take on any debt over $20,000. The city’s rationale is that San Antonio would be on the hook for repaying a portion of this money were it to annex any part of these districts.

But some districts, particularly ESD 5 in southwestern Bexar County, have cast the city’s debt approval process as onerous and an impediment to the public safety needs in these unincorporated areas — a characterization that city officials reject.

The ordinance City Council approved Thursday greatly reduces the number of documents that ESDs must submit. It also stipulates the council will vote on a request within 30 days or at the earliest regular council meeting thereafter.

Improving the process doesn’t mean the proposed bills will disappear, although that’s the city’s ultimate hope. Rather it’s an olive branch in the fight between the city and the ESDs.

ESD 5 Fire Chief Gary Estep.
Courtesy of the Texas Fire Chiefs Association

“I think we all want to go back to a good working relationship,” said Assistant City Manager Jeff Coyle.

The strained relationship was on full display Tuesday at a Senate Committee on Local Government hearing over a bill state Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, filed in early March at the request of Commissioners Court.

Menéndez’s bill removes San Antonio’s authority to restrict emergency services districts. In addition to the debt cap, restrictions include stipulations that equipment is compatible with the San Antonio Fire Department and that ESDs enter into mutual aid agreements with the city to help each other in emergency situations.

“We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re just asking for an even playing field,” ESD 5 Fire Chief Gary Estep testified Tuesday. Estep is also the ESD director for the Texas Fire Chiefs Association.

Estep was joined by representatives from ESDs 2, 7, 10 and 12.

ESD 5 is the only district to have had a debt request denied, according to figures Coyle shared with the committee.

In 2021, the council denied the district’s request to assume $17 million in debt to build a fire station due to ESD 5’s pending litigation with the city over the annexation of property within the district. Both district and appellate courts have sided with the city, and the emergency services district has taken the matter before the Texas Supreme Court.

It has taken San Antonio on average 2½ months to approve debt requests over the past decade, Coyle said. That will now be shortened with the council’s passage of the ordinance.

“We don’t believe there’s a problem. We believe there’s a conflict with ESD 5 that we’re hoping to solve,” Coyle told lawmakers.

But Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, who represents the area served by ESD 5, disagreed, saying the city’s current process — and its denial of ESD 5’s request — has resulted in fire and EMS response times of more than 20 minutes in that part of the county.

“These restrictions serve no purpose other than to provide San Antonio a means to limit the cost of future annexation for the city,” Clay-Flores testified.

The Senate Committee on Local Government voted 8-0 Thursday to send the bill to the full Senate for a vote.

“For the folks who are testifying for (the bill), we’ve heard a lot of good things,” remarked committee Chair Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, at Tuesday's hearing.

Coyle said Thursday that he didn’t expect the hearing to bode well for the city.

“There was no question that was a very anti-city committee,” Coyle said.

“If the issue is — as they say — being able to quickly issue debt and build the fire stations they need to serve their districts, we are solving that problem,” he added. “In fact, I would argue there really wasn’t a problem to begin with, but we are further solving that problem by the actions here today.”

In a further show of good faith Thursday, City Council approved ESD 12’s request to incur up to $18 million in debt to build a fire station and purchase new vehicles. The east Bexar County emergency district submitted its request to the city in September.

ESD 12 Assistant Fire Chief Lawrence Padalecki Jr. told the Senate committee that most of that money would be used to build a fire station within the city of Saint Hedwig, which “San Antonio has no control over.”

Since submitting the debt request, the projected annual debt payment has risen from $600,000 to $900,000, Padalecki said.

Coyle attributed the delay in presenting this request to the council to ESD 12 not having submitted all of the necessary documents.

molly.smith@express-news.net