VFDs say budget falls short despite tax rate hike  

(Guadalupe County) — Some members of the eight volunteer fire departments in Guadalupe County say they are frustrated after learning they will not receive the full amount of funding they had requested in the county’s proposed fiscal year 2025-2026 budget.

The proposed budget, which was recently with the county clerk and posted online for public viewing, comes with a proposed property tax rate increase — the largest since 2012.

Commissioner Pct. 1 Jackie Ott and Commissioner Pct. 4 Stephen Germann were the only two to vote against the proposed increase to the tax rate, which passed 3-2. Both cited concerns about “inadequate funding” for public safety, including fire protection and law enforcement.

Further explaining the tax increase, which led to the decisions made in the budget was Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher. According to Kutscher, setting the proposed tax rate this week, effectively prevents the court from going up any higher until that tax rate is officially adopted on Sept. 2.

“For fiscal year ‘26, the county has proposed a tax rate of $0.3304 cents. That is an increase from the current tax rate of $0.3167 and just above the no new revenue rate of $0.3177. The no new revenue rate is the rate that it would take to bring in the same money as the previous year minus new property. So, with that proposed $0.3304 cent tax rate, it does represent a four percent increase,” said Kutscher.

The judge also defended his position on VFD funding, stressing that the budget already represents an increase from last year.

“We have supported the volunteer fire departments in addition to the municipal fire departments that we contract with for a long time as well as about four and five years ago, starting to fund the GCFR, the Guadalupe County Fire Rescue which is a fully funded, full-time professional fire service on the county side and it’s been a challenge for everybody. As I talked about development, activity and growth and changing – the amount of calls and needs for service, everybody has been impacted but for the volunteer fire departments, we have consistently increased their amount of funding year over year and I know some are frustrated at the amount but for a couple of fire departments as an example with the New Berlin Fire Department going from $89,000 to $105,000 represents about a 16.9 percent increase in the recommended budget as well as Lake Dunlap going from $60,025 to $84,000 and the recommended budget represents a 40 percent increase – and what has been pushed and requested by court members or a couple of commissioners as well as some of the VFD’s are 250-300 percent increases,” said Kutscher.

Kutscher added that the county not only funds the volunteer fire departments, but also supports the Guadalupe County Rescue Service, a full-time paid program that helps cover emergency response needs between volunteer coverage.

“We’ve been focused on supporting those volunteer fire departments while also continuing with our planned approach to expanding the county paid fire staff because it’s just overwhelming for volunteer departments and it’s not their fault. They have done a great job but they have been set up to handle smaller areas, rural areas and smaller numbers of calls but the activity is necessitating the need for full-time paid staff and everybody has their own opinion and we understand that but we made a decision and are committed to fully putting as many resources as we can to keep people as safe as possible and that is putting the funds into full-time paid staff,” said Kutscher.

On top of that, he says the county also provides other critical resources that aren’t always visible to the public, such as paying for radio communications services and other operational needs that keep departments running.

“This recommended budget for the fire departments would represent the first time that we paid volunteer fire departments more than the fulltime paid municipal fire contracts which include city of Seguin, city of Cibolo and city of Schertz, yet, we have those requests coming in saying that’s not good enough. You have to triple, quadruple our compensation. In addition to the contract payments that we give volunteer fire departments and we’ve increased every year. We’ve also, a few years ago, built out a $2 million radio and communications system that they were included in. We pay their monthly radio expenses of $20 per radio. We pay tower site licenses and leases for an old radio system that is only benefiting volunteer fire departments. We also pay for a radio patch at dispatch at the sheriff’s office to put that old system into use still for some of the volunteer fire departments. Two years ago, we funded $200,000 of grant funds through ARPA or America Rescue Plan Act Fund — the county received straight to each individual volunteer fire department for the benefit of being able to buy additional new equipment – upgrades – do whatever they need to and then Lake Dunlap who has been one of the most vocal about their wanting more funds, operates free of charge on a county owned piece of land,” said Kutscher.

Kutscher says these decisions are never easy, given the life-saving nature of the services involved and the fact that local VFDs are already struggling with various challenges — including volunteer shortages and that’s all regardless of funding levels.

“Every fire department is different in its makeup, its location, its need and the way it’s managed and all of the above. It’s an ever-changing and challenging dynamic but long term, the solution is to continue to focus putting resources towards paid full-time staff because we are going to be so large that nothing else will be able to satisfy the need to keep the public safe. That’s what it boils down to,” said Kutscher.

 During the meeting, Ott remained persistent in ensuring fire protection- even suggesting that the county pay the requested funds by utilizing its unassigned fund balance, which is reportedly at $45.6 million. She stated that even if the county accounted for three months of emergency operating funds, there would still be sufficient funds to give the VFD’s the money they need. She added that perhaps if past courts better funded their operations, then maybe their needs “wouldn’t have piled up” so high. Ott also felt that an increase in the tax rate was not warranted, suggesting that they were spending money on things that didn’t deserve the dollars.

As for Ott’s suggestion to dip into fund balance, Kutscher responded by saying that because of how the county receives its revenue late into the year, much of those dollars are utilized. He says, if they used those funds, they “would not be able to make payroll.” Despite the replenishment of fund balance over time, the judge says it puts the county in a very vulnerable position.

Among those leading the charge of publicly sharing their disappointment with the county is the Lake Dunlap Volunteer Fire Department. In a social media post this week, the fire department claimed the county’s proposed funding levels could force them to close their doors.

The statement reads, “After months of meetings and discussions with county Judge Kyle Kutscher and several of the county Commissioners, Lake Dunlap Volunteer Fire Department had secured an agreement on a minimum level of funding for the 2025-2026 budget year. Unfortunately, when the proposed budget was released, we learned the County Judge had only included 16% of the total funding that was requested.”They go on to share that if Lake Dunlap VFD is forced to close its doors, then response times to fire and medical emergencies would double or triple. Property insurance, they also say, “would become much more expensive or even become impossible to get.”

The post continued by sharing that the Lake Dunlap Volunteer Fire Department sought funding of approximately $213,000 for the new budget. They say the amount is one percent of the county’s almost $200 million proposed budget.

Kutscher says operating the county in today’s climate comes with challenges, challenges that will become even harder for everyone if the right steps are not taken now.

“The market has definitely changed in the way that makes local government have to consider these types of changes to be able to provide necessary services. While we can’t control markets, and what appraisals are doing, and how much sales tax comes in. We also can’t really affect, with our limited authority at county government, how many subdivisions are built. We don’t get to choose whether we approve them or don’t approve them. We are the platting authority, but often times, the state gives a developer the upper hand and we are forced to approve some of those things. It gets into a place where we have to make all these proactive decisions, trying to be prepared for serving the public and providing law enforcement, fire and EMS, and roads, and drainage, and jails, and courts, and all of the important things that counties do. But we are affected like everybody else. When you see the expense of things in your life, — well, we are seeing the same type of expenses at a county government level,” said Kutscher.

Again, the proposed budget can now be viewed online at guadalupetx.gov.