Why am I paying taxes to ESD#4
You probably have seen the new line item on your County tax statement and want to know, what is this? Here is the short answer. For decades the City of Pearland has been providing FREE Fire and EMS services to the Pearland ETJ (Extra Territorial Jurisdiction). The thinking was that one day they would probably annex you into the City of Pearland. The laws covering annexation changed in 2017 making the potential of us being annexed unlikely. The Pearland City Council decided with the prospect of annexation being gone, so is the FREE Fire and Ambulance Services. This was a reasonable response! Concerned citizens in the ETJ that realized that we needed to something reached out to Commissioners Adams and Linder for direction. They educated us about forming an Emergency Service District (ESD) under the State guidelines. We had many of your neighbors sign petitions to get the ESD#4 on the Ballot in November of 2018. Only those in the ETJ were allowed to vote on the issue and it passed. The maximum amount of taxes that can be levied via the ESD is 10 cents per $100 taxable value. We believe this is a very fair cost for continued Fire and EMS services from Pearland FD. If you are in a $150,000 house you are being taxed $150 for Fire and Ambulance Service. If you are in a $350,000 house it’s only $350.