Summary: As of Friday, 24 March 2023, the iconic Willow Park Fire Department ladder truck will no longer belong to Willow Park; the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department (WPFR) will be transferred to the Parker County Emergency Services District No. 1 (ESD1), and WPFR will be no more. And what will the tax paying citizens of Willow Park and Willow Park ETJ receive in exchange for the transfer of the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department to ESD1? / Willow Park Civics will update and repost this blog as additional information is shared by the City.
Latest Update: Tuesday, 14 March, 2023
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Acronyms: Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department (WPFR); Parker County Emergency Services District 1 (ESD1); Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ)
Goodbye Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department.
As of Friday, 24 March 2023, the iconic Willow Park Fire Department ladder truck will no longer belong to Willow Park.
As of Friday, 24 March 2023, the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department (WPFR) will be transferred to the Parker County Emergency Services District No. 1 (ESD1).
With the Interlocal Agreement [.pdf], signed during the 14 March 2023 Council Meeting, the City of Willow Park will transfer the City's full-time firefighters and their benefits to ESD1.
Note: According to the Willow Park Payroll Employee Listing Report of 09 Jan 2023 [.pdf], there were eleven (11) full-time firefighters and three (3) part-time firefighters in the WPFR.
According to the Interlocal Agreement, Exhibit A FY 22-23 Fire Department Budget, only nine (9) WPFR full-time firefighters will be transferred to ESD1. (The three (3) part-time WPFR firefighters are not mentioned in the Interlocal Agreement.) See Q&A below for conversations with City.
In addition, the City will sell to ESD1, the following equipment owned by the WPFR Dept. Prices are included in the Interlocal Agreement, Exhibit B.
City Radio Equipment,
2020 Ford F-350 Brush Truck
2015 Ford F-350 Brush Truck
2019 Ferrera 107 Inferno Ladder Truck
2017 Ferrera Cinder Pumper Truck
2010 Pierce Contender Pumper Truck,
During the November 2022 general election, the majority of Willow Park and Willow Park ETJ who voted, chose to approve the annexation of the WPFR to ESD1. [Details are included in the Willow Park Civic blog, Election Results: Voters approve ESD1 annexing fire department. Props A&B.]
And what will the tax paying citizens of Willow Park and Willow Park ETJ (Extra Territorial Jurisdiction) receive in exchange for the transfer of the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department to ESD1?
First, the City will no longer have the $1,425,022 of expense of the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department, according to the FY 22-23 Fire Department Budget, Exhibit A of the Interlocal Agreement.
Second, ESD1 will pay fair market value for the WPFR equipment.
Third, property owners in Willow Park and ETJ will now have an additional annual property tax of $.10 on $100 of property assessment, that will be collected by ESD1 to cover the costs of ESD1 fire and rescue services to Willow Park and ETJ. Note: Willow Park offers a Senior Cap and Exemption on Willow Park property tax assessment; ESD1 offers neither. The cost for fire and rescue services will increase for senior property owners.
Theoretically, this ESD1 property tax could be offset by an equal reduction in Willow Park property taxes, since the City no longer is collection taxes for fire and rescue expenses. However, in addition to considering a property tax reduction, the elected officials of Willow Park have indicated they are also considering other city projects -- including a new city hall -- on which to spend the saved expense of selling the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department to Parker County Emergency Services District 1.
Documents, minutes, presentations, remarks, and videos of these details are collected and chronicled at Willow Park Civics > Issues > Fire Department and ESD1
Q&A
Q: The Interlocal Agreement Exhibit A 22-23 budget indicates nine (9) full-time firefighters will be transferred to ESD1; the Willow Park Payroll Employee Listing Report of 09 Jan 2023 indicates Willow Park had eleven (11) full-time firefighters. Why the discrepancy; what happened to the two full-time fire fighters who are not being transferred? A: Answer from the City of Willow Park: "The 9 FTEs will be transferred over. The remaining 2 FTEs are being retained by the City and they will continue and grow the Fire Marshall’s office."
The terms of the annexation agreement, presented before the November 2022 election, indicated ESD1 would hire all WPFR firefighters; apparently the list of eleven (11) firefighters included two (2) WPFR managers, Fire Chief /Fire Marshal John Schneider and Asst. Fire Chief Kevin Lockwood. According to Chief Schneider, ESD1 does not offer fire marshal services, so the plans were always to keep Chief Schneider and Asst. Chief Lockwood as employees of Willow Park to preform the fire marshal services, which include working with Willow Park Business Development to review for fire safety in new construction plans; performing annual fire safety inspections; investigating fires in Willow Park, among other responsibilities .
Q: The Interlocal agreement indicates only full-time firefighters will be transferred; the Willow Park Payroll Employee Listing Report of 09 Jan 2023 indicates there are three (3) part-time firefighters. What will happen to these three part-time fire fighters? A: Answer from the City of Willow Park: "Two of the three part-time employees have not been active in the department for many months dating back long before the ESD transition, and have shown no interest in pursuing a position with the ESD. The one active part-time employee has been offered a position with the ESD. The details on when he will transition over are still being worked out with ESD staff."