North Hays Co. ESD 1 – Local Media Coverage on Response Times
Many residents of North Hays County Emergency Services District No. 1 (“NHCESD 1”, or “North Hays EMS”) may have missed some of the media coverage that has been published recently regarding EMS response times. Our District Administrator Doug Fowler has been interviewed by KXAN Austin and KUT 90.5 to help shed some light on some of the events having occurred around resident 911 calls and the experiences for both the patients and North Hays EMS.
The focus of both interviews is on some of the longer wait times and how it affected patients and their families, and the difficulties NHCESD 1 has faced and continues to endure in responding to a growing area with an arterial thoroughfare under construction.
From his interview with KXAN: “For the first two months of 2023, we’re seeing a 17% increase over the same time last year,” Fowler said. Because of that, they are not able to meet national standards. “Our response time from leaving the station to arriving on the scene needs to be nine minutes or less 90% of the time. Currently, we’re closer to 15 minutes,” he said.
The articles paint a very real concern for the District’s ability to keep up their level of response as the population grows and more people are on the road, but there is also a path forward; the next steps lay within the District’s strategic planning process.
Fowler, providing insight and expertise to the Board of Commissioners for North Hays EMS, has helped the District develop a plan to de-centralize the current and future stations of NHCESD 1, providing a more comprehensive and distributed response coverage model for the area they respond to. At the same time, they are implementing plans to expand the ambulance fleet and the personnel who staff them. The overall goal is to bring down response times district-wide and bring in line the response to those areas who, due to distance from current station locations, were historically underserved.
To that end, the District requires additional funding. As KUT quoted from Fowler, “You can’t get ahead when you’re underfunded.” On the May 6, 2023 ballot, North Hays EMS is asking voters to authorize an increase of the property tax rate maximum cap from 3 cents to 10 cents ($0.03/$100 to $0.10/$100 valuation of property). This proposition would not impact existing property tax rates, as it is only increasing the voter-approved property tax rate cap to the Texas State maximum allowed amount for modern ESDs. If the May 6 proposition is approved by voters, a second proposition at a later date would determine setting a new tax rate, also requiring voter approval by the residents within the District.
To review the information regarding Proposition A and the property tax rate cap election (translated in English and Spanish), you can follow this link: www.northhayscountyesd1.org/reports-resources/election-information/ The information will continue to be updated as we come closer to early voting, in both languages required by Texas State Legislature.
For the entire articles from each outlet, you can follow the links below.
KXAN Austin (Published 28 Mar, 2023): www.kxan.com/news/it-took-22-minutes-north-hays-ems-has-long-response-times-proposes-tax-rate-increase-to-help/
KUT 90.5 (Published 10 Apr 2023): www.kut.org/crime-justice/2023-04-10/north-hays-ems-needs-more-money-to-keep-up-with-emergency-calls
Did you find this information helpful? Share it with your friends and neighbors who reside in Hays County! Link this article to Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor so residents can learn more and go to the election information posted on the website.