Pflugerville voters file suit seeking tax rollback election

Three voters who signed a petition to cut sales taxes collected by Emergency Services District No. 2 have filed suit against the district’s board, which refused to call an election on cutting those taxes for Pflugerville residents. Jennifer Pakenham, David Rogers and Kristi Powell are among more than 7,000 petitioners requesting an election to lower their sales tax. Former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire is representing them.

The lawsuit is asking a Travis County court to issue an expedited writ of mandamus to order ESD No. 2, also known as the Pflugerville Fire Department, to call an election on reducing the sales tax rate. The ESD board refused to call the election at its Jan. 17 meeting, citing legal advice. In January 2022, the district stopped providing emergency medical services to Pflugerville residents. Instead, the city has contracted with a private ambulance company to offer the service.

As the lawsuit explains, the emergency services district is composed of two parts – one that includes the city of Pflugerville and the Wells Branch Library District, and the territory outside of those two entities. Taxpayers in Pflugerville and the library district pay 0.5 percent for services from the emergency services district. Taxpayers in the remainder of the district pay 1 percent in sales tax to the ESD. This has been the case since 2014, when a hotly contested election established the two different tax rates.

Residents who signed the petition are seeking an election to lower their tax rates because ESD No. 2 is no longer providing ambulance service in Pflugerville. Although petitioners had originally sought a May election, legal wrangling takes time, so it seems more likely to be a November election if the plaintiffs win.

The ESD website argues strenuously against the idea of cutting its funding and urges taxpayers not to sign the petition.

Pflugerville Fire Chief Nick Perkins told the Austin Monitor in January that the department would not be able to sustain current operations if its revenue were cut. He said slashing the sales tax would force layoffs of 80 to 100 firefighters and other staff members.

Melody Ryan, a spokesperson for Pflugerville Residents for Responsible Taxation, said in a press release, “A court will be required to call the election since ESD #2’s unelected board refused to do its duty. Since ESD #2 has been building a MASSIVE reserve and not using the sales tax to provide ambulance service to the city, this election is the first step to re-allocate a portion of the sales tax to the city, which is currently providing ambulance service.”

Pflugerville Residents for Responsible Taxation describes itself as a “non-partisan citizen group dedicated to responsible and sustainable taxation for reasonable delivery of government services, since 2016.”

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