BRAZOS COUNTY, TX — Early voting has started on a new sales tax collection in Navasota.
This last Nov, voters decided to increase their property tax from $0.03 to $0.10 per $100 evaluation.
Now, both the South Brazos County Fire Department and the Brazos County Emergency Services District #1 are asking to approve a 1.5% sales tax for properties within their jurisdiction. An increase, they said, will be necessary to afford the needs of the community... a community that is currently, serviced by their all-volunteer department.
"We must look to the future; your safety and well-being are our primary concern. To address this concern, a full-time fire chief and a paid, day-time crew are in our 10-year plan." shared the South Brazos County FD via Facebook.
Alongside this, they state their need to purchase their firefighting fear, replace aging apparatuses, gear, and radios; this alongside maintaining current stations, equipment, and their apparatuses.
At the time of this publication, the South Brazos County FD is reporting a decrease in volunteers.
"It becomes more difficult to bring new firefighters into the department, and it can take as much as 2 or 3 years to get new personnel enough training to become qualified as a firefighter; we also lose firefighters to things such as job opportunities or family responsibilities, that force our personnel to move away from our area. As an all-volunteer department, our personnel have regular jobs to support their families and are not always available on-call." the South Brazos County FD added in their post.
Within the last five years, the South Brazos County FD is reporting an increase of 160 emergency calls; this number also reflects a drop of 119 calls that ended up being a false alarm.
"These steps are absolutely essential for the fire department to implement improvements in our service now and to grow and prepare for current and future growth in our community," they added.
At this time, the South Brazos County FD is still accepting and training new volunteers. To learn more, click here or email info@sbcfd.net
Voting for qualified voters residing in Brazos County ESD #1, is currently taking place at the South Brazos County FD Station #2 in Millican.
Early voting will be available from April 19-27.
Election day is Saturday, May 1.
Location: 3030 Wingfall St., Navasota TX 77868
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