Wise County Messenger

ESD No. 4 approved for November ballot


Wise County Commissioners approved placing Wise County ESD No. 4 on the Nov. 4 ballot Monday. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER

Voters will have their say Nov. 4 on the establishment of Wise County Emergency Services District No. 4 — a proposed taxing district that volunteer fire departments hope will provide more reliable emergency response for the northwest quadrant of the county.

ESD No. 4 would include the Alvord, Chico, Crafton and Sand Flat volunteer fire departments. The ballot item will appear in the general election for voters who reside within the proposed district’s boundaries.

Wise County commissioners voted unanimously Monday to advance the issue following a petition process and public hearing.

ESD No. 4 map

The ESD has been described as a tool to address financial challenges, improve response times, and maintain or replace aging equipment. The district would cover most of northwest Wise County.

Alvord Fire Department Lieutenant Scotty Hamrick vouched for Wise County ESD No. 4 Monday during the public hearing. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER

Alvord Fire Department Lieutenant Scotty Hamrick said the ESD would help bring the volunteer departments up to speed to meet growing community needs.

“We’ve never seen growth like this out here,” Hamrick said. “The number of houses going up, the amount of work to handle that volume — it’s overwhelming, and right now, we’re already behind.”

Volunteer fire departments rely heavily on community donations, with some funding provided by the county. In Alvord’s case, the department receives about $60,000 annually from Wise County. Some departments are also able to successfully apply for grants, while others struggle to meet eligibility requirements or have the resources available to seek them out.

“We’ve got 18 people at the station now. The average cost of new bunker gear is about $5,000 per person. We get just under $60,000 a year from the county. Last year, we were only able to buy one set of gear — that’s all we could afford,” Hamrick said. “We had guys digging through old containers just to find something to wear into a fire.”

“We don’t want to just show up looking like ‘Jim Bob’ in a T-shirt trying to get it done,” he added. “We want to be able to gear up properly, maintain our equipment, and complete the training to do the job right. That matters.”

The difference in funding and training can impact defensive and offensive approaches to attacking fires, like whether firefighters make entry or whether they just try to contain the fire from spreading.

Hamrick recalled a house fire in Alvord that he described as a wake up call. 

“In the three years I’ve been on, we’ve had one house fire where we were actually able to force entry, get in the door. We were able to rescue an 18-year-old who was asleep and didn’t know her house was on fire,” he said. “That was life-changing for us. Most of us had never experienced anything like that. We’d thought about it, but never seen it. That moment really drove the nail in. And we realized how far we were from where we needed to be.”

Mark Chapin points to his property on the district map, asking that officials consider removing his property or that the funds he pays go to Jack County resources, which he said would cover his 911 calls. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER

While no one opposed the overall creation of the ESD, some raised concerns about district boundaries and service logistics.

Mark Chapin, who lives on a property that straddles Wise and Jack counties, said while his house and some of his land are in Wise County, it is only accessible from the Jack County side. He said when he calls 911, the call is dispatched to Jack County.

“My cell phone doesn’t work at my house, so if I need to call 911, I have to walk up the hill,” Chapin said. “But if I make that call from the hill, it’s going to ping in Jack County.”

Chapin requested that the tax on his property either be dedicated to emergency services in Jack County, or that his property be removed from the ESD boundaries entirely.

“I don’t have a problem paying the tax. I just want it to go to who’s providing the service,” he said. “If there’s a fire at my house, that call is going to Jack. It’s already happened — I’ve tested it.”

Precinct 2 Commissioner Kevin Burns criticized how many ESD maps have been drawn, including ESD No. 4’s. He said the use of roads as boundary lines was “lazy” and a result of hiring out-of-town attorneys unfamiliar with rural Wise County.

“These maps are absolutely foolish — to think that you’re going to serve one side of the road and not serve the other, tax one side and not the other,” Burns said. “You’re going to serve them regardless. That bothers me with all of these. It’s just due to hiring someone who’s not local. No one local does that — they’re used to drawing boundaries between cities, not in the country.”

“That bugs me,” he added, “but as long as the citizens are served, that’s all that matters.”

Burns ended up making the motion to place the issue on the ballot, which was then approved without a dissenting vote.

Organizers submitted 135 verified signatures in support of creating ESD No. 4, Wise County Elections Administrator Sabra Srader confirmed. State law requires at least 100 valid signatures from residents living within the proposed district.

The group initially attempted to place the issue on the May ballot, but the effort was postponed due to a filing deadline issue. Srader said Monday’s public hearing allows enough time to meet the Aug. 18 deadline to place the item on the November ballot.

If approved, ESD No. 4 would have the authority to levy a property tax of up to 10 cents per $100 of property valuation. It could also collect a portion of local sales tax — between 0.125% and 2% — if voters approve it in a separate election.

If established, ESD No. 4 would join three existing ESDs in Wise County: ESD No. 1 in Boyd, ESD No. 2 in Boonsville, and ESD No. 3, which serves Paradise, Cottondale, Salt Creek, and areas near Bridgeport and Decatur.

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