PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) -- A ballot battle is brewing in Pflugerville. This November, voters there will ultimately decide whether to continue a 1% sales and use tax. It helps fund Emergency Services District Two, otherwise known as the Pflugerville Fire Department.
The Pflugerville Fire Department Chief Nick Perkins said it will affect response times, and staffing, if approved. A group of locals claims the department is wasting taxpayer's money.
"[Passing] this would defund the fire department. This would reduce our budget by approximately 40%," Perkins told KXAN. He's worried about what will happen if the current 1% sales and use tax is rolled back a half-percent.
"That would result in us having to eliminate 130 positions, we'd have to lay off over 80 firefighters. Without having those firefighters we would have to close at least three fire stations," he said.
The city of Pflugerville is nearly the same size as nearby city of Kyle. The difference is only about 10,000 people. Both cities use Emergency Service Districts (ESD) to perform emergency services for residents.
Perkins said the city would have to find other ways to fund "critical and essential services," adding "the only thing we have left at that point is property tax."
When asked if this would defund the fire department, David Rogers, who is the spokesperson for Pflugerville Residents for Responsible Taxation (PfRRT), denied that claim.
"[This is] absolutely not [defunding the department.] Defunding implies you're taking all the money away. That is not true," Rogers said.
"When [the fire department] projected it was going to be completely out of money they have gone on a wild spending spree," he said.
"When voters granted that sales tax to us in 2014, what we've done since we've received that money is we've trained more than 50 firefighters as paramedics. We've also been able to add the necessary resources," Perkins said.
Rogers disagrees wholeheartedly.
"I don't know what you can say to people who refuse to correct their mistakes over and over again except I'm not paying you again for the job you're not doing," Rogers said.
"We're limited as an ESD. We are limited to 10 cents property tax ad valorem," Perkins said. "It's been a challenge already, and that's why the sales tax offset and be able to provide the level of services we have today."
For more information on Pflugerville FD's stance, view more about the petition on the fire department's website.
To read more about PfRRT's stance on the petition, it can be viewed on its website here.
