What is Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 3?

By Kirsten Meriwether, Publisher

When Smithville residents get their property tax bills for 2025, there will be a new taxing entity taking a part of the money: Bastrop County Emergency Services District #3.

A tax rate has not been approved as of this writing, but it could be up to $0.10 per $100 valuation. So what is ESD #3? Why was it created? What are we going to get for our tax dollars?

Why was ESD #3 created?

In major cities, like Austin, emergency medical services are typically provided by a city-funded fire department. But in rural communities, like Bastrop County, those services are contracted out to a private ambulance service, or Emergency Service Districts are created.

For nearly a decade, Bastrop County contracted EMS service to Acadian Ambulance. The only revenue to fund the service came from billing people for transport, and Acadian was only able to staff four ambulances for the entire county.

As the population has increased substantially over the last several years, four ambulances are simply not enough to cover the entire county.

Last year citizens petitioned the Bastrop County Commissioners Court to approve an Emergency Services District to specifically fund emergency medical services for the county, and the court ordered an election.

In November 2024, Bastrop County voters approved the formation of ESD #3. It is governed by a five-member Board of Commissioners who are appointed by the Bastrop County Commissioners Court.

What will ESD #3 do?

ESDs can support firefighting, EMS, or a combination of both. ESD #3 will only support emergency medical services.

They have hired Dr. Kevin Abadi as a part-time medical director to advise the Board on standards, clinical concerns, and performance improvement.

What are my tax dollars getting me?

ESD #3 has already negotiated a new contract with Acadian and the company is expanding its service from four ambulances running 24 hours a day, to five. There are also two additional ambulances running during peak times.

They are hoping additional ambulances will reduce the response times. But they have also created an Operations Oversight Committee that will meet with Acadian monthly to review response times and provide feedback to improve.

The district is expected to purchase 12 ambulances to accommodate future growth in Bastrop County.

Air Medical Services

The Smithville City Council signed a $13,200 contract with PHI in March that would give residents no out-of-pocket cost if they ever needed an air medical transport within the city.

ESD #3 partnered with PHI to provide no out-of-pocket cost air medical transportation services within the entire county and, according to an Aug. 14 news release from ESD #3, “the cities of Smithville and Bastrop will save $11,000 and $32,000 respectively.”

We reached out to the City of Smithville to see if this contract had been canceled and where that savings would go. We did not hear back by press time.

How much will this increase my property tax bill?

As of this writing, the board has not approved a tax rate. The maximum the rate could be is $0.10 per $100 valuation.

The next board meeting is Aug. 20 at 9 a.m. They currently meet in the board room of the Bastrop Water Control and Improvement District office, located at 112 Corporate Dr. in Bastrop.

You can view all their agendas on their Facebook page.