Yes, but not on this agreement.
In 2021, a petition was filed to create Travis County Emergency Services District No. 17 (ESD No. 17), a dedicated emergency services district to fund ambulance service. Under Texas law, residents within the City of Pflugerville and its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) were not included in the creation election because the City Council at the time chose not to consent to their inclusion in the proposed district. As a result, only eligible voters residing outside the City and its ETJ participated in the election, and the measure passed by an overwhelming margin.
Later that year, after legal challenges to the creation of ESD No. 17 were unsuccessful, voters in the City of Pflugerville and its ETJ were asked a different question: whether to annex into ESD No. 17. Approval would have extended the district’s boundaries to include the City and ETJ, creating a dedicated property tax to fund ambulance service, including local governance, medical oversight, and quality assurance. Voters ultimately did not approve annexation.
As a result, the City of Pflugerville and Travis County had to begin paying for ambulance service from their existing budgets rather than through a dedicated EMS district tax.
Since then:
The current agreement is not another vote on ESD No. 17. It simply changes who will provide ambulance service within the City beginning October 1, 2026. Rather than contracting with for profit ambulance company, the City has chosen to contract with ESD No. 2 to provide those services.
It’s important to understand that two separate decisions were involved in 2021. The first was whether to create a new emergency services district outside the City. The second was whether residents inside the City and ETJ wanted to join that district through annexation. The current agreement is neither of those—it is simply a service contract.
No.
This agreement does not create a new tax or increase property taxes.
The City has been funding private ambulance service beginning in 2024. The only change is that beginning October 1, 2026, those funds will pay ESD No. 2 instead of a for-profit ambulance company.
Emergency Services District No. 17 (ESD No. 17) was created in 2021 to provide a dedicated, long-term funding source for ambulance service in portions of northeastern Travis County.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are expensive to operate. Ambulances must be staffed around the clock with highly trained paramedics and EMTs, supported by medical oversight, specialized equipment, medications, training, quality assurance, and replacement vehicles. High quality ambulance operations cannot typically be funded through patient billing alone.
The intent of creating ESD No. 17 was to establish a dedicated property tax – similar to the way many communities fund fire protection – to provide stable, locally governed funding for ambulance services. Had the City of Pflugerville and its ETJ voted to be annexed into ESD No. 17, ambulance service within those areas would have been funded through the district’s tax rather than through annual contracts paid from the City’s general budget.
Because annexation was not approved, the City and Travis County have continued funding ambulance service through contractual agreements using existing revenues rather than through a dedicated EMS taxing district.
Because sustained ambulance transport service is not free to provide, and the City of Pflugerville and its ETJ have the most demand for EMS service in Travis County outside of Austin.
Operating ambulances 24 hours a day requires paramedics, EMTs, ambulances, medical equipment, medications, training, insurance, maintenance, and ongoing readiness to respond at any moment. Additionally, ESD No. 2 relies heavily on medical physician oversight, which is extremely important to help ensure the quality of services.
The City’s payment helps offset some of the cost of providing these services while allowing ESD No. 2 to build a stronger, more reliable EMS system for the entire community.
Yes.
For decades, ESD No. 2 firefighters have been the first medical professionals arriving at many emergencies in Pflugerville. Firefighters already provide EMS first response, which helps stabilize patients, and begin lifesaving treatment before an ambulance arrives.
Beginning October 1, ESD No. 2 will also provide the ambulance transport portion of EMS within the City. This represents an additional service to the community.
The City Council determined that a public, locally governed EMS system best meets the community’s long-term needs.
Fire-based EMS systems are common throughout Texas and across the United States because they provide integrated fire and EMS response under one organization with local accountability in the most efficient and safe manner.
This model also supports consistent clinical oversight, coordinated emergency response, and continued investment in personnel, training, equipment, and system improvements to meet the community’s evolving needs.
ESD No. 2 is governed by a five-member Board of Commissioners appointed under Texas law by the elected Travis County Commissioners Court. Commissioners must reside within the District’s boundaries, are appointed by and accountable to the Commissioners Court, may be removed by the Court at any time, and do not accept political campaign contributions.
Board meetings are open to the public, budgets are adopted in public meetings, financial records are public, and performance is regularly reported.
For more than fifteen years.
Regional studies dating back to 2011 identified the need to improve ambulance service in the Pflugerville area.
Since 2015, ESD No. 2 has planned and worked to expand its EMS capabilities, added ambulances, hired paramedics, invested in training, and built the infrastructure needed to operate a comprehensive ambulance transport system.
This agreement is another milestone in that long-term effort.
Yes.
The agreement allows ESD No. 2 to continue expanding ambulance resources over time.
It does not allow ESD No. 2 to exempt response times that may negatively impact their response time performance reporting as is common on for-profit contracts, and was the case with the previous City contract.
Current implementation plans include:
No.
Firefighters will continue responding to fires, rescues, hazardous materials incidents, technical rescues, and medical emergencies.
The change simply means the same organization that already provides emergency fire response and EMS first response will also provide ambulance transport within the City.
The City will contribute $1.9 million annually for the first two years, with modest increases meant to help keep with inflationary cost increases thereafter under the agreement. Travis County is providing $600,000 for the first year.
Ambulance billing covers only a portion of the actual cost of providing emergency medical services.
Like police and fire protection, EMS requires personnel and equipment to be available 24 hours a day, whether or not an ambulance is transporting a patient.
Across the country and state, local governments supplement ambulance billing with tax or contract funding to ensure reliable emergency response.
ESD No. 2 already funds fire protection and emergency first response through the District’s tax revenue. ESDs are capped at 10 cents ad valorem and together with sales tax – it’s not enough to provide both fire and ambulance services.
The City of Pflugerville is not part of a dedicated EMS taxing district, so the District does not receive dedicated tax revenue to operate ambulance transport within the City.
Without this agreement, City taxpayers would still have to pay for ambulance service – they would simply pay another provider.
This agreement keeps those dollars in the local public safety system, helping strengthen emergency medical services for the community while maintaining local accountability.
ATCEMS is an outstanding regional partner and continues to provide EMS service throughout much of Travis County. The City of Pflugerville had several options for ambulance service and ultimately selected ESD No. 2 because it offers a locally governed, fire-based EMS system at a lower cost than the City’s alternative public-sector option.
Fire-based EMS is the predominant model in large communities across the United States. While approximately 40% of all EMS systems nationwide are fire-based, nearly 97% of large U.S. metropolitan fire departments provide emergency medical services as part of an integrated fire and EMS response system.
ESD No. 2 has been expanding its EMS capabilities since 2015 in response to increasing call volumes and community needs. Today, our firefighters and paramedics already provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) first response throughout the community. Beginning October 1, 2026, the District will also provide ambulance transport within the City, creating a fully integrated emergency response system.
A locally managed EMS system also allows ambulance resources to be strategically deployed within the community, provides local oversight through the ESD Board of Commissioners, and enables decisions to be made by leaders who are focused exclusively on serving the residents of Pflugerville and the surrounding area.
It’s important to recognize that EMS in Travis County remains a collaborative regional system. ESD No. 2 will continue working closely with ATCEMS and other public safety partners through automatic and mutual aid, disaster response, and regional planning to ensure residents receive the highest level of care whenever they call 911.
