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Committee adopts amendment to limit volunteer fire-department dues increases
Summary
The City, County & Local Affairs Committee adopted an amendment to a bill that caps annual volunteer fire-department dues increases at 5% when dues are $100 or more and requires quorum-court approval for larger hikes; the bill also would list dues as a separate line on tax bills and require quorum courts to respond within 60 days to certain petitions.
The City, County & Local Affairs Committee adopted an amendment to a bill affecting how volunteer fire-department dues are collected and increased.
The amendment, offered by a committee member during the meeting, stipulates that if a volunteer fire department’s annual dues are $100 or more, the department is limited to an annual increase of 5% unless a higher percentage is approved by the county’s quorum court. The sponsor described the change as a “checks and balance system” negotiated with county treasurers, county-association members and several fire chiefs to prevent a “runaway” dues situation.
Rebecca Talbert, Garland County collector, told the committee the measure would place volunteer fire-department dues “with the property taxes, but it will be broke out on a different line item on your bill,” meaning the dues would be collected on the tax bill before certain property-tax payments. Talbert also said departments are expected to provide transparency packets and financial statements and that distributions can be withheld if documentation is not supplied.
The sponsor also explained that the broader bill would require quorum courts to provide a written response within 60 days if they do not approve a volunteer fire department’s petition (for example, to become a fire improvement district), a change the sponsor said was aimed at addressing isolated cases where quorum courts had ignored repeated petitions.
Committee members raised concerns about existing large bills for some businesses and asked how the collected funds would be accounted for; the collector and sponsor said the bill requires documentation and local oversight. The amendment was moved, seconded and adopted by voice vote during the hearing.
The committee did not finalize all outstanding concerns at the hearing; the sponsor said she would continue to work with colleagues and pull the bill back for further drafting to address remaining problems before it advanced.
The committee moved on to other items after adopting the amendment.
