Budgets, fire services feel heat of inflation

Rampant inflation and the cost of doing business is causing temperatures to rise indoors as counties and municipalities wrangle with budgets and meeting citizens’ needs. Opening the Wednesday, Aug. 2 Grimes County Commissioners Court Budget Workshop was Navasota Fire Chief Jason Katkoski with a request to amend the Interlocal Agreement for Fire Protection Services between the City of Navasota and Grimes County to $125,000.

Also in attendance was Navasota City Manager Jason Weeks with a request for county funding of park expansion.

The cost of saving lives, property Three county judges and 10 years ago, Grimes County entered into an Interlocal Agreement with the City of Navasota to pay the Navasota Fire Department (NFD) $97,241 to be available 24/7 to provide fire protection and emergency services in the unincorporated areas. NFD maintains 3-4 fulltime career firefighters per shift who are trained as paramedics and EMTs.

According to Katkoski, most county calls are vehicle crashes and actual fires requiring multiple vehicles, equipment and personnel and take 1-3 hours. NFD also responds to calls at the prison system at the request of CHI St. Joseph Grimes or a deputy and maintains apparatus such as tankers used predominantly in the County in the absence of fire hydrants.

Though the agreement hasn’t changed in 10 years, NFD has been hit by inflation and increased operating costs.

Katkoski said, “The simple formula we’ve used is taking the calls we respond to in the unincorporated areas and putting that toward what our fiscal year budget is. We had a total number of runs of 1,822 (in 2022) and out of those you have 188 that we responded to outside of the city limits. That equates to 10.3%.”

Removing 1,204 medical calls made to city residents, fire calls totaled 618 with 179, or 30%, outside the city limits.

Based on NFD’s 2023-24 proposed budget of $1.3 million, Katkoski said, “We’re requesting $125,000…and that is still less than 10% of the calls we’re responding to.”

Dissecting services

Pct. 3 Commissioner Barbara Walker and Pct. 4 Commissioner Phillip Cox serve constituents within the city limits and outside.

Walker said, “I think at some point, we had to anticipate some type of increase and with everything costing like it is and issues with staffing.”

Citing increases to the county budget, County Judge Joe Fauth said, “Chief, I appreciate your participating in helping the County out but I’m going to advise the court that there are other services we engage in with the City that we don’t have a charge on.”

Cox responded saying, “They are providing a service to the County. The services that the County provides to the City are being provided at the expense of taxpayers who’ve already paid those taxes in the City. We’re asking them (NFD) to cover areas they normally wouldn’t cover and it’s going to cost us money.”

Referring to a conversation with Weeks who contends Navasota residents don’t know how their County dollars are spent, Fauth said, “I’m not trying to make it us and them or build a wall but maybe the County has not done a good job of communicating to the citizens of Navasota the things we do indeed provide for their county taxes. What your team provides is very much appreciated… your costs are going up, the rest of the costs in Grimes County are going up…and we are strapped on our funds allaround because of what the state Legislature has done to us on their caps.”

Responding to Fauth’s comment about the number of arrests coming from Navasota, Cox replied, “We’re providing the services we’re constitutionally and statutorily required to provide. It’s not a choice. There are some elements such as fire protection we can make a choice on but I’m going to tell you this, if you really think it’s going to be a good move to go back to the citizens of Grimes County, especially those on the border of the city of Navasota that we’re not going to offset firefighting expenses, I think it’s a big mistake and I hope you’re not going down that road.”

Katkoski explained that the current ILA was a “negotiated amount” because at the time, the County represented a bigger percentage of NFD calls and “$93,000 wasn’t even close to what the percentage was.”

Fauth stated that NFD represents about 20% of the half-million dollars the County pays for fire protection to NFD and the eight volunteer fire departments.

He said, “I feel comfortable sharing that it’s an issue for us. Not saying it’s one we can’t address but we don’t have unlimited funds and I know you don’t think we do.”

Navasota’s tax contribution

Weeks requested the County consider partnering with the City of Navasota to fund the expansion of Mance Lipscomb and Cedar Creek Park, “quality of life” projects. His request for $536,500 included $125,000 for NFD, $11,500 for the public library and $400,000 for park improvements and expansion.

Weeks gave an overview of the two-phase project which includes a playground and splashpad accessible to children with special needs, a parking lot, an ADA compliant vandal-resistant public restroom, benches, lighting, pedestrian bridges and trail system.

According to Weeks, the 2023 appraised value of Navasota property is $688,786,418 which will generate $3,306,175 for the County, if commissioners don’t increase the tax rate.

Regarding sales tax, Weeks said, “Unlike some other counties, you actually get one-half percent of the sales tax…that generates around $882,000 for you for nearly $4.2 million Navasota brings to your coffers…and the request represents only 12.8% of the revenue generated by Navasota.”

Pointing out the lack of County amenities and the availability of Navasota parks and the swimming pool to county residents, as well as the sport leagues of which 25% come from the County, Weeks said, “I understand it’s a far ask but all of our parks are county parks, too.”

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get”

Weeks reiterated that quality of life is what attracts folks to Navasota “and we all need to share in participating to pay for those services.”

Stressing that Navasota residents don’t see where their $4.2 million is going, he asked, “Why are all the residents already paying county taxes having to pay additional tax for this amenity when the county should help pay for it?”

Cox responded listing county services benefiting Navasota residents which included the hospital, ambulance service and a court system.

Fauth said, “This whole conversation is not meant to be argumentative, and I hope nobody watching thinks that it is. It’s meant to be informative.”

Weeks replied, “It would be greatly appreciated if you would put parks on your radar and we do need to figure out a way to create a better partnership.”

Commissioner Walker, referring to parks in the County’s strategic plan, encouraged building on the relationship.

Judge Fauth added, “In my preliminary budget, I did take it from $97,241 to $105,000… we’re looking at what we can do.”

Meetings may be viewed in their entirety at https://grimescountytx. granicus.com.