At its meeting Tuesday, June 4, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to earmark up to $400,000 toward providing better emergency medical services to areas of the county outside of Austin.
In a presentation to commissioners, Travis County’s executive for emergency services, Chuck Brotherton, said the county’s rapid growth and ongoing cost increases in interlocal agreements with the cities of Austin, Pflugerville, Round Rock and Hutto, coupled with changes in both demand and service area, have been “challenging county’s ability to sustain high-quality emergency medical services across all parts of Travis County.” Brotherton said though the current quality of EMS response is “generally excellent,” costs are increasing around 3 percent a year, and a recent election has called the sustainability of that response into question.
On May 4, several neighborhoods voted to disannex from the city of Austin, thanks to a 2021 law passed by the Texas Legislature that automatically triggers those elections in areas annexed by cities with populations of 500,000 or more between 2015 and 2017. Neighborhoods like Lost Creek in West Austin voted to leave the city in order to dodge property taxes and change what they viewed as lackluster municipal services. Now, instead of Austin police and fire departments, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office will respond to 911 calls in Lost Creek, and they’ll receive fire response from the Travis County Emergency Services District No. 9 in West Lake Hills. This both expands the county’s service area and makes it harder to fund those services, making a comprehensive reexamination of those departments necessary. Meanwhile, the city’s Public Safety Commission recommended this week that City Council prioritize emergency services in its budget this summer.
The county’s midyear request allocates up to $400,000 in the Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget and authorizes Brotherton to begin drafting a request for an outside consultant to help guide the county’s decision-making on emergency services. The funding could be moved to FY 2024-25 depending how long it takes to find that consultant, though Commissioner Ann Howard stressed, “I think it’s imperative that we get this started sooner rather than later because of the legislative session. We might need to argue for changes.” Brotherton agreed that “waiting till FY 25 to begin the solicitation process is only gonna put us further behind the curve.”
The last comprehensive study of the county’s emergency services was in 2011; the city of Austin authorized another in 2020, but no recommendations were actually implemented, Brotherton said. Therefore, before a request for services can go out for a consultant, the county will need to conduct another comprehensive study of services, with a public engagement component.
“Many of the small cities in western Travis County especially, where there’s remote access to where people live, are concerned about the future,” Howard said. “How large does the population need to get before they need to be independently funding ambulances? There’s just a lot of questions, and we need help.”
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Travis County Commissioners Court: The legislative body for Travis County. It includes representatives from the four Travis County Precincts, as well as the County Judge. The County Judge serves as the chair of the Court.
